With your help MiLANO could open V Festival! 20/03/08
I have just signed us up on the ’Road To V’ website. So you should all hop along to http://www.roadtov.com/profile/45480, sign up and help us get there! We need you with this and we’d be very greatful for your help.
MiLANO for V!!
xx
Intro Music? You Bet!!! 19/02/08
What's going on with the title to this blog? It's a bit of an inside joke, you see MiLANO have finally relented and decided that intro music is the way forward. Except being MiLANO, we're not going to take the easy route and get some X Factor style theme music. We're better than that.
We had 2 questions that we had to ask ourselves:
Q1. What 80's/90's saturday night game show shall we base it on? and
Q2. What chord shall we use?
A1. You Bet! (Darren Day era)
A2. The Chord of A - the most rockingest Chord of them all.
The piece wrote itself and will soon become part of MiLANO history when it is debuted at our LP Launch on Friday at Barfly Cardiff. Our favourite band in this area - Sleep Good Feel Good - kindly asked us to play with them a few months ago and we readily accepted, making the date a deadline for 5 new recorded tracks and artwork to be ready to compliment our existing 5 track EP. 5+5 = an LP in our book. We're not calling it an album as it is simply a collection of our recorded work to date that extends over what we would consider to be an EP so here you go. EEP was considered, but we're always mindful on how much ink an extra letter can consume over the course of a million copies (estimated LP sales...).
So ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, homies and hoes we give you...
The 10 track LP/CD will be available to purchase from Friday onwards. Initially it will be available at our gigs but we will be putting it up for sale through myspace and our soon to be launched band website at the mere price of £5.00 + £1.00 delivery. that's 50p per song, they're worth at least 10p more so you're getting a real good bargain. We're currently trying to get them onto iTunes also, more news regarding that next time.
So...
Come along to Barfly on Friday night and support us and Sleep Good Feel Good for the evening - this is the last time we're playing Cardiff for quite a while so we hope to see you there.
All our love,
MiLANO.
New Year. New Songs. New Pants. New Everything. 13/01/08
Hello everyone and Happy New 2008!
Our blog posts seem to be few and far between which isn't necessarily good for our cause with regards to publicity etc, but hopefully when you do receive notification of a new post, you want to read it.
Anyway... what does 2008 have in store?
Well we have a lot going on for the beginning. At the end of this month, we will be recording our second 5 track demo. Currently we have 4 definites - songs that have been more or less mainstays of our setlists for the past 5 months or so. There are another 3 or so songs that we'll be going through over the next few weeks which we have to decide upon. The one is a song we tried out in our last gig in Buffalo just before Christmas (more on that in a bit) - it didn't go according to plan but I think it deserves a chance. Another is an Acoustic number with no other instruments to speak of really - Dan and Will are currently unaware of this and I'm already sensing it's unpopularity. Think 'Ramble On' verse by Led Zep. And the other is a steady medium paced Acoustic/full band song. We'll see.
Our last gig which was on 20th December was at Buffalo Bar. This is the first time we've played there since they've extended the stage etc. It very nearly didnt happen as the the promoter emailed us 2 days before to say that 2 bands had pulled out so he was cancelling the night. After a short discussion, we decided that we should adopt the 'Best of the British' attitude and take over the night. We called a few bands we knew and the night was back on. The attendance wasnt the best we've ever had there but it more than covered the cost of the venue which isnt bad for just 2 days notice.
We used the gig as a tester for a different setlist comprising of some new songs, a new cover (Wish it could be Christmas everyday - Wizzard) which will only come out once a year and some risky ommisions. The gig went down a treat though and was a great way to end the year.
The start of this year hasn't been to clever so far. We were gutted when we were forced to cancel our first ever gig due to me being a victim of the Flu outbreak. After sending a grovellingly apologetic email, I kinda get the feeling we're not too popular with a certain promoter in Bath which is a shame - nobody was more gutted than us.
Onwards...
Just a quick update on each of the band members -
Will - Will is great. His car is knackered so his dogging activities have been limited to whenever Dan is available. He's really 100% Milanese now. It has been a weird 4 months for us all, but we're completely at ease with him as is he with us. Annoyingly, he is getting more female attention that Dan and myself combined.
Dan - Dan's hair is getting ridiculous. He has a large number of new suits that he's eager to debut at forthcoming gigs. Expect costume changes mid gig.
Me (Andrew) - Same old. I've developed a renewed taste for Cheese on Toast using Cheddar. Those of you who know me will be aware of my extremist Anti-Cheddar views for the past few years. Maybe i'm mellowing with age? How bizarre - the more i mellow, the more my taste for strong cheddar develops! I must stipulate that this ONLY applies to melted Cheddar. Cold Cheddar can kiss my pale arse.
The last thing i want to mention which is probably the most important thing in this whole blog is this...
We're looking for a Manager
The time has come for us to start taking things a bit more seriously. 2008 has to be a big year for us - we want to be playing new places, big places, shitty places, outdoor gigs, festivals, etc. By mid February we'll have a 10 track demo. We need someone to push us into the right directions, to talk to the right people, to send our music to the right places.
This person doesn't have to be experienced. This person needs guts, drive, ingenuity and personality.
Whoever takes us on will become the forth member of the band and will be treated as such financially with whatever we earn from door money, profits from CDs, T-Shirts etc.
If you think you can give it a serious go, get in touch with us as soon as. Come to West Wales and record with us, eat, drink and love with us.
Thanks for reading - expect another blog in around a month or so.
Andrew, MiLANO.
xxx
P.S. check out our gig list, we have a few good gigs coming up at the end of this month. It'll be good to see you. xxx
NEW MiLANO GIGS & E.P NEWS 08/01/08
Greetings friends, fans and lovers of Milano,
I trust you have all had a fantastic festive holiday and a cracking new year. We certainly have. In this newsletter we have information about new gigs and our up-coming E.P.
Gigs
Unfortunately we have had to cancel the gig in Bath tomorrow (9th) due to illness. However, we have had a few more tasty gigs confirmed for the next couple of months. These look as follows:
Sat 26th Jan - Cardiff Barfly w/ This Is Seb Clarke & The Passenger
Mon 28th Jan - Cardiff Students Union (Fun Factory)
Wed 20th Feb - Newport, The Cotton Club
Fri 22nd Feb - Cardiff Barfly (E.P. release) w/ SleepGoodFeelGood & The Dirty Looks
E.P
Just to get you all wetting yourselves with excitement, I'll also tell you that we will be recording in early Feb, so you will soon get to hear some old and some new Milano songs on disc. We're very excited and can't wait to hear the finished tracks.
The Cardiff Barfly gig with SGFG on 22nd Feb is going to be a very special one as it will be our E.P release. It would be great and very much appreciated if lots of you could come down for that one especially.
Come and join in the mega Milano fun with us!
love,
Milano x
Goodbye, Hello... 19/09/07
*In a Woody Allen Voice*
Hello all you blog reading type kinda peoples...
Since our last blog in May, the 3 piece indie rock combo MiLANO have been on the Pepsi Max of emotional rollercoasters. From the truly disasterous beginning of May gigs, we grabbed each other by the short and curlies and kicked ourselves into shape. This was less painful for Dan as we got confused and pulled his hair instead...
We got ourselves back into shape and played some really enjoyable gigs towards the end of May and then Joe dropped a Nagasaki like bombshell on us by announcing he had accepted the job of a lifetime in Basingstoke. I think Dan would agree that we have been through the five stage grieving process -
1. Denial and Isolation.
2. Anger.
3. Bargaining.
4. Depression.
5. Acceptance.
We knew that Joe was as gutted as we were but decisions had been made and we had to deal with it. The awful part was that we were being offered better and better gigs (in prestige), playing the likes of Barfly Cardiff (and then being invited back twice within a month and a half), The Fleece in Bristol (the best stage we've played on), invited to play private functions, etc. Also we attracted the interest from a couple of small labels. So things were naturally gaining momentum but in the back of our minds, we knew all along that any progress would be fruitless as we had no drummer. We had to stop accepting new gigs etc.
We started auditioning drummers from early June. This is a painfully awkward process. Every single person we met with was fantastic but I guess Dan and I handled things badly. We initially had 4 or 5 drummers to try out, then some cancelled, then others took an interest etc so we were trying people out and saying to them that we had others to try - which was completely true - but as weeks and then months went by, we failed to get in touch with the people we auditioned as we were still looking. If any of the drummers who gave 2 hours of their time to us are reading this, firstly we are VERY sorry for our faux pas. It has been circumstance not ignorance that is the reason for not getting back in touch with you. Secondly, thank you for coming along. We didn't find 1 bad drummer.
Anyway, last week we tried out 4 drummers and we told ourselves a decision had to be made. Each drummer was truly brilliant - we tried being all Simon Cowell about it but we weren't able to. We tried a guy who used an electric kit - the same electric drum kit that Tears For Fears used on their MASSIVE 80's album Songs from the Big Chair. This album was the soundtrack to my childhood and so to hear these sounds and samples coming from it was, aghhhhhh!!! Awesome. But it was clear from the outset that our partner in crime would be...
WILL
We are looking forward to really getting into rehearsing thrice weekly to get up to speed for our first gig in Swansea on 21st October (see listings for venue...).
So last night was our very last gig with Joe. It was a really odd night, we had a lot of people turn up to support us. After around 2 hours of PA feedback which was likened to the calling of Whales, our new best chums Sleep Good Fell Good opened the nights proceedings, making it very difficult for all to follow. If these guys don't make it, there is no justice in this world. They are the kind of band that make you sick - amazing songs, wicked sound and all round great people. Not sure I like them so much now...
Then Enjoy the Beef were up second, bashing out rock riffs aplenty.
I was a lot more nervous before this gig than I have been for a long time. As it was a special occasion I made sure i had my 2 amp setup  much to the amusement of others who think it's excessive. It's not. We started the set as normal, struggling at times with the monitors, but mostly it sounded good and tight. One of the highlights for me was the latest addition to our set "Damage Limitation" which seemed to shake the stage more than usual.
We then invited Alun Godfrey on stage - Alun was the keyboardist/shared vocalist with me in Sycophant, of which Joe was the drummer. We played a cover - Back in the USSR (that Joe Joes always on my mind...) and then one of our finest moments so far (in my opinion) The Scarab song - a 10 minute epic prog rock kinda type thing - sorry, going back into my Woody Allen again. We said our goodbyes and finished on Colour Me/Drygoni followed by a trashing of Drums and Guitars. We went straight out to the fire exit stairs for a hug and I received a water doushing from my beloved Joe. I'll never wash again...
It was one of the most bittersweet moments i've ever had - Joy from the gig being a success yet tragic as it was the end of an era for us. In a drunken stupor, the 3 of us have dreamt about playing arena's, stadiums, abroad etc and now a major part of the dream has gone. But last night also marked the end of a state of mind for Dan and me. We met around 2am this morning for 10 mins and through all of the shi that was attached with Joes leaving, it feels like the clouds are parting and we're now once again full of optimism and spunk, itching to start making progress again.
This has been a mamoth posting - if you're still reading, well done. To finish with I just want to say Thank You Joe - You really are what i consider a best friend - I know Dan feels the same way too - we have had an amazing time over the past few years mate, this wasn't an easy decision for you and I'm proud of what you're achieving.
I also want to say Welcome Will - you seem like a completely top bloke and Dan and I look forward to breaking you in, MiLANO style. This will include cards, getting naked and bottles of Spirit of Louisianna.
I'll just leave you all with my favourite picture of Joe
Peace Out.
Andrew, MiLANO.
09/05/07
May ramble.
Andrew here.
Just thought i'd keep you up to speed with what's new with the band.
We played all of our scheduled gigs for April apart from Meze Lounge which was rescheduled to Tuesday 1st May plus a couple of last minute gigs, including one of my favourties so far in The End in Cardiff. April was a good month for us with regards to live development securing future gigs. Everything seemed to go well for Milano until...
The rearranged Meze Lounge gig couldn't have come at a worse time to be honest. Joe and myself had been in London the previous weekend working on the A Strings stand in the London Guitar show. Try talking for 7 hours at a time to customers while competing with the sound of at least 100 other guitarists fret wanking in a 50,000 sq/m arena. It tears your voice to shreads. All i'm going to say is this - the Meze hurt like fuck. That plus the fact that i think we had a maximum of around 10 person audience. Still, it went ok, just not great. We had the privilege of meeting Tyler James - a fantastic bloke with great songs. It almost makes you think some good can come out of everything. Maybe not...
On Thursday 3rd of May, with Joe rushing like fuck to finish his coursework for Friday, my voice still sounding like Barry White and Dan trying to salvage what could turn out to be a disasterous night - students were nowhere to be seen because of exams, Cardiff was literally dead - we took our gear up to Dempsey's for soundcheck. This is where this blog becomes nasty and personal.
As a band, we have experience of Dempsey's. Joe and I played there in Sycophant 5 times last year and Milano played there on March 1st this year. We know the venue and we like the venue, hence the reason we decided to book it again. The soundguy (Paul - worth every penny) set up as always and we got our volumes sorted. The head barman guy comes up and says it's too loud, people can hear it downstairs. After telling him that it is quieter than last time and that live music venues should expect noise, we give in and turn everything down a notch. He comes back, we turn it down again. He comes back, we tell him to fuck off, then relent and turn it down again.
Girl 13 played a really good set with their new line up. During their set, the lanky prick from behind the bar tells us that it has to come down again. We tell him that there are more people in our room than the rest of the pub (it was dead downstairs) and if he asks us to turn it down again, we'll refund everybody, pack up and go. He accepts this and then goes away.
Parry:Matthews from Bath put on a superb set. Then a pissed off Milano took the stage. First couple of songs went down really well and then shaggy from behind the bar comes back up to say we have to turn it down. Why? Because they can hear a beating of a bass drum from upstairs. Rock and roll. Interruptions from this guy really hit us hard, the momentum ground to a halt and we really wanted to get the gig over and done with. we dropped a couple of songs and just before the end we had a bouncer stop our song and tell us to turn it down or else. Why? Because the manager is upstairs with his 13 month old baby. Why book live bands, rock bands at that, if you have a small child living upstairs?
The set ended and we were completely sullen.
The lanky nob from behind the bar started hounding me then for money. When I told him that they didn't deserve the money and we were only going to pay half the amount (which was never actually confirmed), he went trotting upstairs to his manager. I use the word trot as it was more of a prancing horse movement than a run. The manager came downstairs, and he seemed like a reasonable enough fella. It was just a shame that we were adament. He got a bouncer to take down the number plates of all the cars we had parked outside, i'm not sure what for as we haven't received any word from the police. Let's just say that as of writing this blog today, none of the cars that were outside have any kind of scratches on them, all tyres are in good condition and we're all lucky enough to live in areas with well positioned CCTV :o) . We'll be sure to update you if this changes at any point.
We'll also be making the most of venue's such as Buffalo from whom we can book a room WITH sound guy for £60, which compared to £100 for the venue with sound guy on top in Dempsey's, makes good sense.
To close, May has been a bit shit. We also found out that TJ's in the Park has been cancelled, which is gutting as we got through! We have a gig next week in Callaghan's, which we're looking forward to. We have a rehearsal on Monday where we'll be learning something new. I doubt we'll have it ready for the Callaghan's gig, but it'll be out there soon.
I apologise for the rant. Maybe i'll write a song about it... Song title suggestions are welcome.
Love and Milano Salami
Andrew Morgan, aged 27.
All roads lead to the Village... 08/02/07
Current mood:  creative
1. "TOGETHER, we will go our way. TOGETHER, we will leave someday. TOGETHER, your hand in my hand. TOGETHER, we will make a stand."
2. "You can't stop the music"
3. "We want you, we want you, we want you as a new recruit"
4. I gotta be a Macho Man. (Body, wanna touch my body. Body, sucha (sic) thrill my body.)
Why quote the Village People you ask? Because the above sentiments make up the basic ethos of Milano; 1 being the least important, 4 being the most.
We have been rehearsing, writing, sweating, playing and yes, romping intensively in order to be completely on form for our first shows of 2007.
Despite what we said in our last blog, our first gig is at Buffalo Bar Cardiff on the 28th of FEBRUARY, not March. Then we zoom off to the other side of Queen Street for our St David's Day Extravaganza! in Dempsey's Bar opposite Cardiff Castle. I promise you that this will be a great show to attend.
We have the debut performance of Nefyn fronted by my old pal Jo Cook, then we have a London band - Ice Cold in Alex - playing their first gig this side of the bridge. They have a couple of ex-pat's in the band, so be nice... They are fantastic and i'm sure they'll be playing with us in the land of Lava Bread pretty regularly if this goes well (which it will).
Then we take the stage at around 9.10pm with a slightly extended set - for those of you who are aware of the Scarab Song, this may be one of the last times you hear it played in a LONG TIME, for those who haven't heard it, you need to be there.
Headlining are the brilliant My Void as featured on BBC Wales, GTFM, Barfly etc. They'll close what I reckon will be the best St David's Day this year.
We then have a week off before taking about 30 steps down the road to play Callaghan's on the 8th March as promoted by Livewire.
Then, we're all going going to the seaside, yes we're all going to the sea. Porthcawl Apollo will be the lucky venue on Saturday 10th March.
So you have plenty of opportunities to see us next month. We will of course let you know as and when more gigs are confirmed (we already have some for April but it's too early for those...)
Thank you all for being our friends and spread the good Milano word out among the people.
Milano - Andrew.
(Joe and Dan are in Cardiff watching Ricky Gervais tonight, they say "rrrrrraaarrrrrrr").
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