27/02/06
Fantastic gig last Sunday at Leeds Uni's Mine Bar. Good crowd, smiling faces, people who knew the words to the songs, albums sold, interview recorded for LSRfm106.6's breakfast show... All in all an ace way to spend a Sunday evening.
There was also a nice preview of the gig in the Uni magazine which you can read here. I'm hoping to have a podcast of the interview up in a couple of weeks, in which you'll be able to discover 'The story behind the lyrics of The Incredible Commuting Mole (Must Die)' and 'Why Captain Wilberforce makes girls cry'. I bet you can hardly contain your excitement...

24/02/06
So you can belly dance to Captain Wilberforce songs. Or at least attempt to...
Tuesday's gig went really well even though the sore throat that seems to have been bugging me forever was niggling away at me. The gig, I found out on the night, was to raise money for an Operatic performance at the Uni (The Marriage of Figaro), so thanks to everyone who came - you were sponsoring the highbrow arts without even realising it!
I've finally got the details for Sunday's gig at Mine Bar @ Leeds Uni. Their Winter Festival line-up looks pretty good, with The Voltaires, Band Club, Monkey Swallows the Universe, David Thomas Broughton, Anderson Congress and of course yours truly. I'm on at 6.30pm - it's another charity gig, so they'll be accepting donations on the door.
Have a top weekend, maybe see you down the front!

15/02/06
Quick update. Next Tuesday's gig at The Faversham will be with Future Sons of Rome and Steel. Belly Dancers will be in attendance, I've been reliably informed. Reasons why Belly Dancers will be in attendance are less clear.
Also, it's good to know that a home produced album can compete with the Major labels - and here's the proof. Captain Wilberforce at No. 16 in US music critic / festival promoter David Bash's top 100 album's of 2005, above Brendan Benson, Teenage Fanclub and Kaiser Chiefs etc.
Next year, here's to a Mercury music award nomination (and maybe a couple of Brits).

14/02/06
The new album is coming on, you'll all be pleased to know! Songwriting's the best part of being a musician in my view (although lyric writing can bug me on occasion) with recording a close second. I love playing live, but the creative process is what always drives me on...
7 songs are now definitely in contention for a place on the album, with another couple of songs which are great, but might not quite fit.
Breaking news is that I've got a new gig at pretty short notice at The Faversham next Tuesday 21st Feb. I'm onstage at 9pm, but I'm not sure of the headliners as yet. Tickets are £4 on the door and as it's the first time I've played there it'd be good to see a few friendly faces down the front! (Scroll down to 27/1/06 for the other upcoming gigs in Feb and March).
Lastly, but not leastly you can now buy the album via Ebay, just search for Captain Wilberforce or Mindfilming and Bob's yer.

03/02/06
Just a quick reminder that this Sunday I'm playing a FREE gig at Carpe Diem, Civic Street, Leeds Tel: 0113 2436264. Obviously this is reason enough to go out on a Sunday evening, but no, there's more! There's a music quiz in between mine and Nathan Smyth's sets and FREE food too.
What's on TV Sunday night? Nothing worth missing the gig for, that's fer sure...
In other news: Keep your diaries clear at the end of May. No firm dates as yet, but I'll be playing 2 festival gigs - more info as soon as it comes in!

27/01/06
Wow, what an excellent gig that was last night! The Cobden Club is a superb venue with a class PA system and a brilliant Sound Engineer. Lily and her band played a blinding set - and she's not signed yet? There is no justice in the music industry, it's official. Anyhow, I predict this will all change in 2006.
And then there was Tom Baxter - amazing. Seriously, he's jaw droppingly good both as a singer and guitarist, yet he makes it look so simple. The fact that Tom isn't a household name and James Blunt is, pah!
Louis played some new songs which sounded great, although by that time the crowd were impatient for Tom and were a bit talkative throughout.
And as for me, well I felt it was the best gig I've played so far and the crowd seemed to enjoy it too, judging by their applause. All in all, a successful event and worth the 8hr round trip... (Cheers to Di and Sam for organising it!).
Remember the next gigs are:

January
Sun 29th - Bar Vida, This gig has been cancelled as the venue is changing hands.

February
Sun 5th - Carpe Diem, Leeds
Sun 26th - Mine Bar @ Leeds University (Winter Festival)

March
Thurs 2nd - Sandinista Bar, Leeds
Sat 11th - Jug Of Ale, Birmingham

25/01/06
Can't wait for tomorrow's gig, hope to see lots of you lovely people there!
Mindfilming just got reviewed by Amplifier Magazine. They loved it, but then again what's not to love?? Read the full review here.

18/01/06
Important gig update:

Thurs 26th January - Cobden Club, London gig - Tickets are £6 in advance and £8 on the door, BUT the Cobden Club is a members only club, so your name must be down on the door; If you want to come along please contact The Captain’s manager, Diane Wagg.
The line up is now: Tom Baxter, Lily Fraser, Louis Eliot (ex Rialto) tbc, Captain Wilberforce

Sun 29th January - Bar Vida, Derby gig has been cancelled as the venue is changing hands.

17/01/06
Wow, life is just a blur at the moment; the last 2 gigs (both at Mixing Tin) seem like distant blips on the radar. Still, if my sieve like memory serves me correctly, both were really enjoyable and the other bands were both friendly and worth catching again.
It looks like recording for the new album should be kicking off in a couple of weeks. As usual the lyrics are lagging behind compared to the completed tunes, but so far “Confetti, Champagne and Roses” is finished and “The Girl Who Broke Her Own Heart” is nearly there. That’ll be just the 10 more songs to do then. Great.

08/01/06
Always the bridesmaid... Nope, didn't win the open mic award, but it felt great to be a nominee at such a fantastic event. A full to capacity 'Northern Light' played host to a pretty eclectic mix of artists; the highlights of which (imho) were Shlomo and Four Day Hombre.
Full steam ahead for best album award 2006!
Anyway, back to the real world: Another review has come in for the album, this time from Swiss Records. Now, it's written in Swiss-German, which is tricky to translate (Anyone who can help, please get in touch!) but the 8/10 gives a general idea...

01/01/06
So that was Christmas then? The Captain blinked and almost missed it; still, it was fun and Santa brought lots of cool stuff. New Year's eve? Overrated and too many bloody fireworks.
Yep, the festive season's pretty much over, but there is still much to be excited about, not least the fact that The Captain has been nominated for

'Leeds Open-mic Performer of the Year 2005'

at the inaugural Independent Leeds Music Awards. The awards are being held at Northern Light, Cross York Street, Leeds next Saturday, 7th of January and tickets are available from all the usual suspects, ie, Jumbo and Crash record stores. To say that the Captain was chuffed would be something of an understatement; best of luck to the other 3 'open mic' nominees, we're all winners!
2005 was a great year for Captain Wilberforce - the album has sold way better than expected to fans from the USA, the Netherlands, Spain, Canada, France, Denmark, Portugal, Germany and of course good old Blighty. Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive and they're still coming in (There's a cool American mag review due later in January, but keep it under your hat!).
There were plays on international radio stations including most recently from PLÁSTICO ELÁSTICO in Madrid.
At last, the Captain dipped his toes into the murky waters of the live gig circuit and again, judging by the reviews, the audiences and the reviewers nodded their appreciation.
So, what's on the cards for 2006? Well, another album, due late Spring. More gigs (see entry below 6/12/05). Updated news, downloads, pics etc, of course: Oh, and world domination? Well, that's up to you...