It is with heavy hearts that we must announce the departure of our beloved drummer, Art. In a decision to take a break from the music scene as a whole, Art is going to have a well-deserved rest and devote his time to pursuing other adventures. He will be sorely missed for his refreshing input in jamming sessions, quiet strength, and infectious sense of humour – not to mention his superb drumming skills which showcased our music so beautifully.
Coal will be playing a few last shows with Art behind the kit:
• Friday 19 November at Obz Cafe (acoustic) with Tape Hiss and Sparkle.
• Wednesday 1 December at Mercury – a huge farewell show featuring some of Art’s bands, including Andy Lund and the Mission Men, V.O.L. and Three More White Guys.
• Saturday 11 December at Zula with The Sleepers and The Great Apes.
Be sure to catch one (or all) of these shows to enjoy Coal for the last time in its current format. As for us ladies, we plan to experiment a bit more with percussive elements in our songs and are open to various options going forward. We look forward to our future, and wish Artur all the best for his.
Showing posts with label Gigs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gigs. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
Waxing lyrical
Coming up with song lyrics is tricky. For an audience as varied as ours, they can’t be too soppy or poppy, must be meaningful without being emo, and should be recognisably hooky and easy to sing along to.
At our Monday night prac a couple of weeks ago, while we were jamming, sweet Cathy came up with the most lewd line. She crooned: ‘You float by me, still inside me’.
Well, that’s what the rest of us heard, anyway. This whopper (ahem) resulted in hours of sniggers, but it turned out her words were actually ‘You float by me, still and silent’. Much more poetic, wouldn’t you agree?
Misheard lyrics have always given us all a good laugh. Everyone remembers the famously shocking Jimi line, ‘Excuse me while I kiss this guy’. In the early noughties my friend K thought the words of ‘Leave me breathless’ by The Corrs were actually ‘Go-oh on, go-oh on! Tease me, Bradley!’ (Ja, I don’t know about that either.) And the father of one of Coal’s members used to sing along to R.E.M. in the family car, ‘That’s me in the corner, losing my erection.’
You float by me, still inside me? Perhaps not so bad after all, Cath!
The threads of the new song will hopefully come together tonight to form a beautiful tapestry – or least a comfy crocheted knee rug – and I will share with the rest of the band my terrible dream from last night. Coal was on stage in front of an awful audience of youngsters, most of them resembling those monsters I used to teach. It wasn’t going well: we had to stop mid-gig because our new mystery member (a tall, gangly chick I don’t know in real life) was useless and kept forgetting her guitar parts. I was so embarrassed I just picked up a newspaper that was lying off stage and stood there reading it, feigning nonchalance. *cringe*
I hope the ‘spring’ weather improves soon, and we will see you all at ROAR for Halloween on Saturday 30 Oct. With no useless new members in sight, promise. (Only the old ones. Nyah hah.)
Yours in lyrical productivity and nocturnal brain-activity,
Linky
At our Monday night prac a couple of weeks ago, while we were jamming, sweet Cathy came up with the most lewd line. She crooned: ‘You float by me, still inside me’.
Well, that’s what the rest of us heard, anyway. This whopper (ahem) resulted in hours of sniggers, but it turned out her words were actually ‘You float by me, still and silent’. Much more poetic, wouldn’t you agree?
Misheard lyrics have always given us all a good laugh. Everyone remembers the famously shocking Jimi line, ‘Excuse me while I kiss this guy’. In the early noughties my friend K thought the words of ‘Leave me breathless’ by The Corrs were actually ‘Go-oh on, go-oh on! Tease me, Bradley!’ (Ja, I don’t know about that either.) And the father of one of Coal’s members used to sing along to R.E.M. in the family car, ‘That’s me in the corner, losing my erection.’
You float by me, still inside me? Perhaps not so bad after all, Cath!
The threads of the new song will hopefully come together tonight to form a beautiful tapestry – or least a comfy crocheted knee rug – and I will share with the rest of the band my terrible dream from last night. Coal was on stage in front of an awful audience of youngsters, most of them resembling those monsters I used to teach. It wasn’t going well: we had to stop mid-gig because our new mystery member (a tall, gangly chick I don’t know in real life) was useless and kept forgetting her guitar parts. I was so embarrassed I just picked up a newspaper that was lying off stage and stood there reading it, feigning nonchalance. *cringe*
I hope the ‘spring’ weather improves soon, and we will see you all at ROAR for Halloween on Saturday 30 Oct. With no useless new members in sight, promise. (Only the old ones. Nyah hah.)
Yours in lyrical productivity and nocturnal brain-activity,
Linky
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Captivation
Our most recent gig at Obz Cafe (oh how it pains me to write that with a z) was wonderful for us, kind of like cruising in 5th gear. Despite Vera’s lovely epi deciding to take a leave of absence and some rather peculiar sound issues, the lights were pretty and the crowd was perfect. Thank you to the talented mister Simon Tamblyn (http://soundcloud.com/simon-tamblyn) for sharing his songs with everyone, and to all the peeps who braved the wet streets (again) to come see us in high-heeled action.
Our next show is at the Waiting Room on Tuesday 25 May. (See our FB page for details.) We love this venue, not least because of its awesome 70s wood panelling and golden orb lights, and are looking very much forward to strumming our strings and tapping our toes up there. We also will be handing out some girly merch to sweeten the deal. Do pop by!
Meanwhile, behind the scenes we have been working on a new ditty with a bit of a twist (for a change) and hope to unveil it soon!
Keep warm and listening to locals and we shall see you other side the rainclouds.
Linky x
Our next show is at the Waiting Room on Tuesday 25 May. (See our FB page for details.) We love this venue, not least because of its awesome 70s wood panelling and golden orb lights, and are looking very much forward to strumming our strings and tapping our toes up there. We also will be handing out some girly merch to sweeten the deal. Do pop by!
Meanwhile, behind the scenes we have been working on a new ditty with a bit of a twist (for a change) and hope to unveil it soon!
Keep warm and listening to locals and we shall see you other side the rainclouds.
Linky x
Monday, January 11, 2010
Fuel to the (Coal) fire
After beginning 2010 with a bang at the Purple Turtle as part of the ‘Ayoba’ New Year’s Eve bash in Greenmarket Square, the lady members of Coal are very chuffed at the band's new acquisition: Art Pereira. Art has now joined the band as an official member, and (after some tootling and whooping) we will have our first full band practice for the year tonight. Some of us have been all over the country during the festive season (Art drummed with the ever-raunchy Taxi Violence on tour) and I have just returned from 4x4ing and freckling in the Klein Karoo on a work teambuilding thing where temps hit 40 degrees – perfect ostrich-riding weather! (Not.)
The New Year’s Eve gig was great (even though the onstage sound was a little elusive) as we were honoured to share the circus arena with the brilliant harmonies, percussion and Hawaiian shirts of Holiday Murray, our lads The Sleepers, and the enthralling insanity of the Great Apes, amongst others. Sadly we had to miss the downy-moustachioed boys from Locnville as they were on the outside stage in the same slot as ours. I, for one, cried into my pillow that night! But verily, I still have the sun in my pocket and the moon in my hand.
With 2009 now over, the four Coal ladies will have a new challenge: to convince Art to play in those heels we clubbed together to buy him for Xmas. And with some plans already being plotted, we are very excited to be recording some of our ditties to share with our fans and those far away who want to hear our sound online. (The recordings we have are a little dated now and don’t quite reflect the journey we’ve been on so far.) This way we can reach ears from Hong Kong to Timbuktu, as well as our lovely supporters in the Mother City.
We will be sure to keep you informed once we have confirmed our upcoming shows and all the goodies we have in store for you in 2010. All the best for the New Year! Keep supporting live local music.
Munching wasabi nuts from Oudtshoorn and wearing a purple skirt(le),
Linky
The New Year’s Eve gig was great (even though the onstage sound was a little elusive) as we were honoured to share the circus arena with the brilliant harmonies, percussion and Hawaiian shirts of Holiday Murray, our lads The Sleepers, and the enthralling insanity of the Great Apes, amongst others. Sadly we had to miss the downy-moustachioed boys from Locnville as they were on the outside stage in the same slot as ours. I, for one, cried into my pillow that night! But verily, I still have the sun in my pocket and the moon in my hand.
With 2009 now over, the four Coal ladies will have a new challenge: to convince Art to play in those heels we clubbed together to buy him for Xmas. And with some plans already being plotted, we are very excited to be recording some of our ditties to share with our fans and those far away who want to hear our sound online. (The recordings we have are a little dated now and don’t quite reflect the journey we’ve been on so far.) This way we can reach ears from Hong Kong to Timbuktu, as well as our lovely supporters in the Mother City.
We will be sure to keep you informed once we have confirmed our upcoming shows and all the goodies we have in store for you in 2010. All the best for the New Year! Keep supporting live local music.
Munching wasabi nuts from Oudtshoorn and wearing a purple skirt(le),
Linky
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
‘Tis the season to be kicking
Coal has been hard at work with the talented mister Artur Pereira to bring the plugged-in set back alive and kicking for our 23 December gig (at Zula Bar in Long Street). For a few months it has been set aside to simmer while we worked on the softer subtleties and rearrangements of our recent acoustic set.
Dressed in his shiny armour, Art has stepped in to help us out for these two shows. In just a few short weeks, he has added a whole new dimension to our sound with his wealth of experience, ideas and tricky rhythms. He also keeps us entertained with anecdotes about all the notorious/impressive bands for which he has tickled the snare. (Now that just sounds dirty.) We are, however, still looking for a permanent replacement, so please send any intrepid drummers who might be keen our way.
The acoustic gig at the Waiting Room was a roaring success in terms of keeping the rain at bay, forcing us to come out from behind the flashy lights and loud distortion to make ourselves more vulnerable, and teaching us much about writing and performing a ‘different’, moodier kind of set.
For the show, Vera whipped out her Renaissance lute (okay, more like gingerly lifted her out of the velvet case and cradled her - the lady is older than all of us!) for a reinterpretation of Mister Fox, which she and Cathy sang with some really beautiful goose-bump inducing harmonies. Helen taught Nick Cave a trick or two with her rendition of Henry Lee and our friends Simon and Adam from The Sleepers kindly joined us with some vocals and guitar to add more depth and drama to Ghost, The Ruse, Tractor and Stroke. Thanks, gents! We are already plotting to do more performances of this nature as we really enjoyed the ‘bones laid bare’ feel and intimate atmosphere of an acoustic performance.
To keep my ideas pot bubbling, my MP3 player has serenaded me of late with Radiohead’s In Raindows, Mogwai’s The Hawk is Howling and some other bits and bobs of Tool, Incubus and PJ Harvey. But at home there have been strains of a more folky ilk, with Simon and Chris and I working on some of Simon’s Tape hiss and Sparkle songs to get them ready for a performance in the new year sometime. *sings really high harmony*
The end of year madness is upon us all, so keep taking those vitamins and going to see local live music, and we’ll wave to you from the stage on the 23rd!
Linky Xx
Dressed in his shiny armour, Art has stepped in to help us out for these two shows. In just a few short weeks, he has added a whole new dimension to our sound with his wealth of experience, ideas and tricky rhythms. He also keeps us entertained with anecdotes about all the notorious/impressive bands for which he has tickled the snare. (Now that just sounds dirty.) We are, however, still looking for a permanent replacement, so please send any intrepid drummers who might be keen our way.
The acoustic gig at the Waiting Room was a roaring success in terms of keeping the rain at bay, forcing us to come out from behind the flashy lights and loud distortion to make ourselves more vulnerable, and teaching us much about writing and performing a ‘different’, moodier kind of set.
For the show, Vera whipped out her Renaissance lute (okay, more like gingerly lifted her out of the velvet case and cradled her - the lady is older than all of us!) for a reinterpretation of Mister Fox, which she and Cathy sang with some really beautiful goose-bump inducing harmonies. Helen taught Nick Cave a trick or two with her rendition of Henry Lee and our friends Simon and Adam from The Sleepers kindly joined us with some vocals and guitar to add more depth and drama to Ghost, The Ruse, Tractor and Stroke. Thanks, gents! We are already plotting to do more performances of this nature as we really enjoyed the ‘bones laid bare’ feel and intimate atmosphere of an acoustic performance.
To keep my ideas pot bubbling, my MP3 player has serenaded me of late with Radiohead’s In Raindows, Mogwai’s The Hawk is Howling and some other bits and bobs of Tool, Incubus and PJ Harvey. But at home there have been strains of a more folky ilk, with Simon and Chris and I working on some of Simon’s Tape hiss and Sparkle songs to get them ready for a performance in the new year sometime. *sings really high harmony*
The end of year madness is upon us all, so keep taking those vitamins and going to see local live music, and we’ll wave to you from the stage on the 23rd!
Linky Xx
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Hold onto the love you hear
We are still reeling and glowing in our post-gig reverie after a beautiful show on Wednesday night downstairs at The Mercury. The warmth from our audience washed over us and we loved every minute of performing on stage. Our heartfelt thanks to all who came out to support us.
It really felt as if we had come full circle (hopefully the first of many gradually widening ripples) with that show. The day after our debut at the same spot in June, we were asked to perform with the striking sonic princess Inge Beckmann. After the shell-shock subsided, we set about preparing for what was to be our most important gig to date. Many hours of practising and planning and popcorn eating and plucking (guitar strings and perfectly sculpted eyebrows for some of us) later, we finally made it.
As we have said on our Facebook page, the weather is always somewhat tempestuous (as a lady is wont to be :) when we play at The Mercury and it actually rather suits us. Last night the wild wind (which pushed me – my keyboard inadvertently becoming a sail – into a parked car before soundcheck) nearly destroyed our lovely 1950s hairdos crafted by the multi-talented Cathy, but we thwarted it with hairspray.
Sadly, nothing lasts forever and by midnight my poor fine locks were doing a rather sad flop over to the side of my head, barely held aloft by the feathered doo-hickey Hen tells me is called a ‘fascinator’. I didn’t lose my slipper, although now that I think about it my head did rather resemble a pumpkin.
I just had a listen to Stroke (our student sound-engineer extraordinaire friend Sven is currently tinkering with the recording for us) and I was treated yet again to shivers and goose bumps! (This happens often when we are playing music together, which I consider to be quite a good sign :)
“Just hold onto the love you hear, and my voice breaking with the waves...”
Next week we will begin rearranging our set into something more suitable and intimate for our acoustic gig at The Waiting Room on 10 November. With more fiddle! (No dirty jibes about intimate fiddling, please.) We are very excited, and hope you will love the reworked songs as much as we will. Hold thumbs for those goose bumps.
Yours in feathered fascination and pearls,
Linky
It really felt as if we had come full circle (hopefully the first of many gradually widening ripples) with that show. The day after our debut at the same spot in June, we were asked to perform with the striking sonic princess Inge Beckmann. After the shell-shock subsided, we set about preparing for what was to be our most important gig to date. Many hours of practising and planning and popcorn eating and plucking (guitar strings and perfectly sculpted eyebrows for some of us) later, we finally made it.
As we have said on our Facebook page, the weather is always somewhat tempestuous (as a lady is wont to be :) when we play at The Mercury and it actually rather suits us. Last night the wild wind (which pushed me – my keyboard inadvertently becoming a sail – into a parked car before soundcheck) nearly destroyed our lovely 1950s hairdos crafted by the multi-talented Cathy, but we thwarted it with hairspray.
Sadly, nothing lasts forever and by midnight my poor fine locks were doing a rather sad flop over to the side of my head, barely held aloft by the feathered doo-hickey Hen tells me is called a ‘fascinator’. I didn’t lose my slipper, although now that I think about it my head did rather resemble a pumpkin.
I just had a listen to Stroke (our student sound-engineer extraordinaire friend Sven is currently tinkering with the recording for us) and I was treated yet again to shivers and goose bumps! (This happens often when we are playing music together, which I consider to be quite a good sign :)
“Just hold onto the love you hear, and my voice breaking with the waves...”
Next week we will begin rearranging our set into something more suitable and intimate for our acoustic gig at The Waiting Room on 10 November. With more fiddle! (No dirty jibes about intimate fiddling, please.) We are very excited, and hope you will love the reworked songs as much as we will. Hold thumbs for those goose bumps.
Yours in feathered fascination and pearls,
Linky
PS) The photograph was taken by the talented mister Dewald Daniels. See more of his work at www.dewalddaniels.co.za
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Gig...a what?
With the 30th September looming, Coal is busy with preparations for this performance. We have finalised our set and working on the fine-tunings for some bits and bobs, but I'm happy to say we are sounding fabulous...absolutely fabulous ;)
This time we'll be doing 'Henry Lee' again with our guest, Phillip, who will be happily married by gig night!
We'll have finalised our stage set-up by Friday, so any last minute preparations can still be taken care-of.
The talented Adam Hill is responsible for creating our beautiful poster, so when you see it around Mercury or on the night, bear that in mind and give him a wink...hehe ;)
I suppose all that's left to mention is our carefully thought out theme, which will only be observed on the night...
Thanks to 'Sidecar Fire' who gave mention to us on their web page...awesome guys, awesome! ;)
See you on Wednesday!
S
This time we'll be doing 'Henry Lee' again with our guest, Phillip, who will be happily married by gig night!
We'll have finalised our stage set-up by Friday, so any last minute preparations can still be taken care-of.
The talented Adam Hill is responsible for creating our beautiful poster, so when you see it around Mercury or on the night, bear that in mind and give him a wink...hehe ;)
I suppose all that's left to mention is our carefully thought out theme, which will only be observed on the night...
Thanks to 'Sidecar Fire' who gave mention to us on their web page...awesome guys, awesome! ;)
See you on Wednesday!
S
Thursday, September 3, 2009
(S)he brings me sugar
Last night I did some last-minute dusting, wiping and sweeping on my knees (while my man watched :) to make the flat fairly habitable for the Coal ladies. We discussed stage decor, sartorial splendour and the set list for our upcoming show with Inge Beckmann (30 September at Mercury) and some other exciting developments. (More on this in the next few weeks.)
Almond biscotti, cheesy pretzels and slightly burned popcorn were chomped with much enthusiasm in-between sips of delicious organic vanilla rooibos. But before this could take place, Sherri had to go procure some sugar for our tea (hence the Tori Amos reference in the title. Anyone? Anyone?) while we banged and clanged on her imaginary drum kit in my lounge.
Because if there is one thing we can’t do without, it’s our tea. (That’s just how we roll.)
We fiddled and tweaked and hummed some more of Cathy’s new loooove song, and many a time our watchword for too much waffling was uttered:
“Knickerbockers!”
Later two of us ventured out to the hot and crowded ROAR to watch the Emerging Sounds Battle of the Bands. We went to support Fezray with our poofiest pompoms, but Helen and I were particularly amazed/confused/entertained (in equal amounts) by one of the other acts. In fact, I am still giggling! Hooray for South African music, in all its weird and wonderful forms.
Yours in tea (heeing)
L*
Almond biscotti, cheesy pretzels and slightly burned popcorn were chomped with much enthusiasm in-between sips of delicious organic vanilla rooibos. But before this could take place, Sherri had to go procure some sugar for our tea (hence the Tori Amos reference in the title. Anyone? Anyone?) while we banged and clanged on her imaginary drum kit in my lounge.
Because if there is one thing we can’t do without, it’s our tea. (That’s just how we roll.)
We fiddled and tweaked and hummed some more of Cathy’s new loooove song, and many a time our watchword for too much waffling was uttered:
“Knickerbockers!”
Later two of us ventured out to the hot and crowded ROAR to watch the Emerging Sounds Battle of the Bands. We went to support Fezray with our poofiest pompoms, but Helen and I were particularly amazed/confused/entertained (in equal amounts) by one of the other acts. In fact, I am still giggling! Hooray for South African music, in all its weird and wonderful forms.
Yours in tea (heeing)
L*
Monday, August 31, 2009
Silly shoes and all...
Well me dearies, it's Monday after a weekend that would intimidate even the stoutest of heart. Needless to say that the ladies of Coal had a fantastic time on Saturday night, playing at ROAR, even with the drama that surrounded this gig.
No, we didn't cry, we didn't scream or even flinch when we were informed that we were to go on stage at 10:30pm, instead of 12:00am, to hail the re-opening of Gotham. Instead, I tried to break all land speed and make-up application time records
to run from the car to the stage in the nick of time! Apologies to all the friends who I was unable to sms to notify of the time change, applying false eyelashes and smsing at the same time is not to be attempted!
The crowd attending the Seven Deadly Sins party was a real treat to perform for and I hope that we see you guys soon at our shows. Wednesday will see us
attending Fezray's gig at ROAR. Come along, it would be lovely to see a few familiar faces.
The next day while nursing my bruised tootsies,(the shoes I bought for this gig were not my dancing shoes, they were the shoes which looked pretty and almost caused acute ankle failure on the way to the car) and working my tuch off at the Celebrate life festival, it was on a cloud of post-gig elation that I managed to get through the gruelling early start and day of massaging the knots out of peoples' shoulders.
Thanks once again to my band-mates and the folks who come out to support live music. I, for one, felt like a Chinese foot binding victim after wiggling on the spot to the Sleepers' set... and by the way their cover of Bela Lugosi's dead was superb!
This last little while the lassies have been picking apart our songs and rearranging them. It's a painstaking process, but one which fills one with an enormous sense of satisfaction when we perform the new babies for the first time and they are well received.*sigh*
The next month is going to see more refining of our material, as well as the crafting of a few new songs, so best diarize the 30 September, when we will be on stage at the Mercury Lounge with Cape Town legend, Inge Beckmann.
Rock on!
C
No, we didn't cry, we didn't scream or even flinch when we were informed that we were to go on stage at 10:30pm, instead of 12:00am, to hail the re-opening of Gotham. Instead, I tried to break all land speed and make-up application time records
to run from the car to the stage in the nick of time! Apologies to all the friends who I was unable to sms to notify of the time change, applying false eyelashes and smsing at the same time is not to be attempted!
The crowd attending the Seven Deadly Sins party was a real treat to perform for and I hope that we see you guys soon at our shows. Wednesday will see us
attending Fezray's gig at ROAR. Come along, it would be lovely to see a few familiar faces.
The next day while nursing my bruised tootsies,(the shoes I bought for this gig were not my dancing shoes, they were the shoes which looked pretty and almost caused acute ankle failure on the way to the car) and working my tuch off at the Celebrate life festival, it was on a cloud of post-gig elation that I managed to get through the gruelling early start and day of massaging the knots out of peoples' shoulders.
Thanks once again to my band-mates and the folks who come out to support live music. I, for one, felt like a Chinese foot binding victim after wiggling on the spot to the Sleepers' set... and by the way their cover of Bela Lugosi's dead was superb!
This last little while the lassies have been picking apart our songs and rearranging them. It's a painstaking process, but one which fills one with an enormous sense of satisfaction when we perform the new babies for the first time and they are well received.*sigh*
The next month is going to see more refining of our material, as well as the crafting of a few new songs, so best diarize the 30 September, when we will be on stage at the Mercury Lounge with Cape Town legend, Inge Beckmann.
Rock on!
C
Friday, July 3, 2009
Embers of Coal
Exciting things are happening in the land of Coal.
We are all still reeling from our incredibly successful debut gig, which saw the Mercury Lounge packed to capacity on a very cold and rainy Cape Town evening. We could never have fathomed such a warm reception to this very special project of ours.
We have now entered into a management agreement with Headline Artists! We are also really excited to be working with Jon Monsoon at Plus 1 Media Productions.
Our website is nearly up and running - we plan to make it as interactive as possible and will all be blogging regularly so you can all get a peek into the enchanting world of Coal.
Right now we're preparing for our 2nd gig, which is at Kunskafee on Saturday 4th July. We hope to see everyone there!
xx
Coal
We are all still reeling from our incredibly successful debut gig, which saw the Mercury Lounge packed to capacity on a very cold and rainy Cape Town evening. We could never have fathomed such a warm reception to this very special project of ours.
We have now entered into a management agreement with Headline Artists! We are also really excited to be working with Jon Monsoon at Plus 1 Media Productions.
Our website is nearly up and running - we plan to make it as interactive as possible and will all be blogging regularly so you can all get a peek into the enchanting world of Coal.
Right now we're preparing for our 2nd gig, which is at Kunskafee on Saturday 4th July. We hope to see everyone there!
xx
Coal
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