News feed for the official site www.magic-ship.com

The Jetsonics

2009-12-03T08:26:00.001Z

We've all had great times over the past three years and made some great songs, played some great shows and made a great album. (Still for sale on iTunes, CDBaby, Amazon!). Thanks for supporting us.

Now we are moving on. Ad, Dave and Sam are The Jetsonics. We are at http://myspace.com/thejetsonics and soon to be at http://www.thejetsonics.com Come and listen to the new music.

Croydon. They love it.

2009-11-30T10:01:00.001Z

The Brief was a good show on Friday night. We had a good turn out.

Support from The Plan was excellent. Keep an eye on them, with the right moves they will do well.

Word to the wise. If you are over 6'6" tall. you won't fit on the stage at The Brief! There is fortunately a little oversized are of the stage that justs out beyond the low roof so you can stand there, just don't try to run and speak to your drummer :-)

Sound was pretty good. Especially as the sound engineer was called out of sick bed at late notice.

We played all the new material. Hard Copy and Burn! Burn! Burn! seemed to go down very well.

Let's get it on

2009-11-25T09:55:00.001Z

Looking forward to Friday night. 27th November we are headlining at The Brief, Croydon. Rehearsals have been going well and we have a great set with old and new material. Support from The Plan.

See you there.

Setlist run through

2009-11-11T09:43:00.001Z

Last night we ran through the set list for the Croydon Brief show on the 27th. Songs are shaping up well, we just need to make sure the running order is right. We've totally reinvented 'Amazing' as an up tempo rocker with a stadium chorus. Soudning pretty good. You'll hear it in a couple of weeks if you are coming to see us.

New Songs

2009-11-05T11:35:00.001Z

The new songs are now posted in the [drum roll.....] SONGS section of magic-ship.com site. They are excellent. Go listen and tell us what you think.

New song update!

2009-11-03T11:58:00.001Z

You can listen to the songs already already. They are over on the MySpace. Keep up at the back!
http://www.myspace.com/magicshipband

Mixed

2009-11-03T11:39:00.001Z

Thanks to Ian at Airplay Studios we were able to take away copies of further mixes of four new songs last night. They are sounding great. Lively and fresh. We'll be posting them online this week for you to have a listen. They'll feature early next year on a new album.

Sausage and Egg McMuffin and Magic Ship in the Studio

2009-10-20T08:37:00.001+01:00

There's nothing like a good breakfast the morning after a late night band recording session. A Sausage and Egg McMuffin is nothing like a good breakfast, but all the same it tastes just right.

Last night saw Magic Ship record three new songs: 'Two in the Coals and One in the Flames', this has become a live favourite and we finally recorded it. 'Murphy's Heroes', a stomping good track about a bunch of would be rock and roll stars. Finally, 'Burn! Burn! Burn!', a song all about the rise and fall of of Guy Stevens.

It was way past clocking off time and way past your bedtime when we sang and played the last notes. Safe to say though that through the headphones I think we have some real class on our hands with this batch of songs. Once we get some rough mixes we'll even make them available for preview on www.myspace.com/magicshipband and the music player on this site.

Photo shoot!

2009-10-18T21:46:00.001+01:00

Hit the Photo jump for a nice few shots of Magic Ship by our man Krzys. They're mixed in with the old and new stuff, but it's worth a look around. He made us look pretty cool in the half light outside Airplay Studios.

Classic Rock Magazine November Issue Features Magic Ship

2009-10-14T12:42:00.001+01:00

Take a look in the November 2009 Classic Rock magazine. It's Europe's biggest rock publication and you'll find Magic Ship's 'LoveTel Motel' on the cover CD.

As a little celebration and a thank you to everyone that's followed Magic ship this far we've reduced the price on the 'LoveTel Motel' album for a short time which you can now buy from CDBaby on CD for $6.99 and the download is just $5. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/magicship Bargain!

Of course - you can still download it from Amazon MP3 and iTunes too.

Photoshoot and Hob Nobs

2009-10-13T08:57:00.001+01:00

Yesterday's photoshoot was laid back fun. We did the whole shoot around the rehearsal studios, mostly outside. Some long exposures and 2 second smiles should lead to at least a handful of shots we can use on the new album liner and around the interweb. We'll post some here once they are back from the lab.

We also had some chocolate Hob Nobs.

Monday, sweet, sweet Monday

2009-10-07T11:36:00.001+01:00

Back to a Monday rehearsal this week. Prepping some new material for recording in a couple of weeks' time. We also had a meeting with an industry insider to discuss global expansion and plans for an exciting 2010.

Ad used my Bad Monkey overdrive for his bass and it sounded great. He's now bought one for himself from 'the internet' at a bargain price.

Look out for some upcoming promotions on CD prices, a flyer for the November 27th Croydon show and photos from the photoshoot this month.

Magic Ship LoveTel Motel MP3

2009-10-02T14:50:00.001+01:00

The LoveTel Motel album is now available for download from Amazon UK's MP3 store. You can grab the whole thing for £6.99 or 79p per track. Quick! Before they run out!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lovetel-Motel/dp/B002IWM8SK/

LoveTel inflation!

2009-10-02T14:47:00.001+01:00

Prices on early pressings of the LoveTel Motel CD are now changing hands at extraordinary prices. Lookout record collectors...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B001BN1Z7C/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

Great new song...'78'

2009-10-02T12:34:00.001+01:00

Ad came up with a good song last night. A lyric and some chords and a bass riff. That's what it takes. 15 minutes later we've got a stomping classic Magic Ship song on our hands. Oi!

Plans are afoot to record before Christmas. A couple of photoshoots lined up. A gig in Croydon @ The Brief, November 27th, where we'll be playing new material plus our old stuff from the LoveTel Motel album. We are looking good.

Hard Copy

2009-09-24T10:17:00.001+01:00

Another practice, another new song. This one's called 'Hard copy'. Once we tidy it up it'll be a shuffling heavy groove all about the demise of the vinyl LP. Aaahh it'll bring a tear to your eye.

Magic Ship Official Facebook Group

2009-09-24T10:14:00.001+01:00

Just a quick word about the Official Magic Ship Facebook Group. If you aren't in it. You should be! Join here:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=134674659607&ref=nf

Independent Audio...Great Sound!

2009-09-18T09:02:00.002+01:00

I'd like to think this is not just a plug for a great PA/sound company but a genuine thanks to the team who helped make our day at the Brentford Festival a fantastic one. Baz and the team from Independent are wizards of sound. The turnaround speed, the quality of FOH sound and sound through the monitors was first class.
http://www.independentaudio.co.uk/

Three is the Magic Number

2009-09-17T12:32:00.001+01:00

Last night's practice was exciting. We pretty much had a new song all but done. The others don't know yet, but I think it's just called 'Amazing'. It's pretty funky in a rocky kinda way. You'll like it.

Ad's Trace Elliot is still at the doctors so he was playing through the PA. That's no fun in a rehearsal room, but he still managed to make it sound decent.

Brentford Festival photos

2009-09-07T10:04:00.001+01:00

What a great day! It was a grand day out. German sausage. London Pride. Curried goat. Paella. See-saws. Roundabouts. Bouncy Castles. Magic Ship. Thanks for showing your support. We had a tremendous reception and some hearty applause for the three-piece power trio line up. The road crew were watching from backstage and gave us some great comments, that means alot. Photos here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2411481&id=531898466#/album.php?aid=106639&id=531898466

More to follow.

Magic Ship Brentford Festival 6th September 2009

2009-09-05T14:20:00.002+01:00

Magic Ship will be appearing at 3.30pm on the main stage at the 2009 Brentford Festival. http://www.brentfordfestival.org.uk for details. Look forward to seeing you there. Arrive early and get stuffed up on ice cream. Weather prediction is a late summer's 21 degrees!

Gone Solid Gone, Farewell to Col

2009-08-25T10:03:00.002+01:00

Sad to say that Saturday's show at the Half Moon was the last for Col with Magic Ship. Col has decided to leave the band and has plans for something new with brass and backing vocals and more people. We wish him all the best.

Some three years ago, Col placed an advert looking for musicians. Looking for players to start up a band of sorts. At that time we didn't know where we were headed. But an album, numerous sold out gigs and three years later we are all proud of what we have done.

Stick with Magic Ship for a whole new chapter. We have some great new songs to record which have been getting the best feedback at the recent shows and we're looking forward to recording them for the new album.

See us at the Brentford Festival on Saturday 6th September. www.brentfordfestival.org.uk

Stay tuned for more news as it happens.

Ad, Dave, Sam.
Magic Ship.

Dancing, really dancing. Magic Ship Half Moon

2009-08-24T09:45:00.002+01:00

Great show at The Half Moon on Saturday night. We had some faithful faces and a fair few seeing us for the first time. We also had dancing! Would you believe it - not just rocking or tapping feet but actual dancing. Long may it continue.

The PA appeared to be not working for the couple of hours before the Trick Noise Makers went on. We appeared unphased as did they. Soundman Doon 'turned it all off and back on again' and fixed the thing. Good job.

Trick Noise Makers put on their usual good show. It's always a pleasure to play with them.

Walk on music was the main theme from 'Where Eagles Dare'. It was suitably rousing.

I got hand cramps and fumbled through the last few songs. It still doesn't feel right.

Looking forward to Brentford Festival on 6th September.

Thanks to Marc for these few photos.

Sam

Are You Ready?

2009-08-14T09:43:00.001+01:00

We are prepped for the big show on 22nd August at the Half Moon in Putney. We actually practiced twice this week back to back. Playing mid-week rather than a Monday kind of leaves me feeling mixed up. It's very odd. Like a three day weekend. Looking forward to sharing the stage with The Trick Noise Makers. We have a great set lined up with plenty of new material. See you there.

Thanks to Radio Caroline Listeners

2009-07-27T10:53:00.001+01:00

Many thanks to all the Radio Caroline listeners on the internet and on Sky who tuned in to drive time to hear Magic Ship on Friday. Jim Ross was kind enough to pass on some of your words of appreciation and encouragement. You are too good to us.

Magic Ship Web Radio Airplay on Radio Caroline

2009-07-24T09:42:00.001+01:00

Get over to http://magicship.wordpress.com/2009/07/23/popping-my-broadcast-cherry/ to read about Magic ship on the radio.

Magic Ship Poker Night

2009-07-24T09:01:00.001+01:00

Magic Ship on Radio Caroline

2009-07-23T08:52:00.001+01:00

The website says "On Sky Digital and around the world on the Internet – this is Radio Caroline." And for two weeks starting this Friday 24th July between 1400 hours and 1800 hours GMT Radio Caroline presenter Jim Ross will play various tracks from the Magic Ship album 'LoveTel Motel' on his afternoon show.

So if you want to support Magic Ship, why not send Jim an email - jimross@radiocaroline.co.uk – and request your favorite track off the album? He'd get a huge buzz out of hearing from you with your requests and dedications.

We're also being played on Tim Charles' Thursday evening 'Magic Carpet Ride' show which has a classic rock slant. Tim is also a DJ on European Klassic Rock and is playing our album on his 'Durrango Blues' midnight show.

Links:
www.radiocaroline.co.uk
www.ekr.net

Not suckful. Fly! gets some reviews

2009-07-22T13:42:00.001+01:00

About 247 years ago, Col posted our song 'Fly!' on we7.com. We got some reviews and passed the Tastemaker Challenge. That sounds like a good thing to me! You can download "Fly!" from iTunes. You can also buy the CD with that song on. The album's called 'LoveTel Motel' and you can get it from CDBaby.com and Amazon.

Let the reviews commence!

"A good driving track with an infectious guitar riff. The production is good as is the quality of the vocal and backing. The only thing sightly lacking is any form of variation or light and shade. The song could do with a middle 8 or something contrasting to break it up a bit and to give the track structure, otherwise it can tend to be a bit bland after several listens. At 2:42 it could also do with a bit of lengthening."

"Fantastic lyrics, I love the name "Magic Ship" and i think this song could be very sucessful! Well Done!!"

"Bar Band grade. Not suckful. Would even tip."

"Magic Ship has a potential! sounds like old school rock what is great to car and so. But i dont know if I let to you to my mp3 player... but nice work!"

"This song kicks off with a solid riff and, even though it feels a little '90s, it is quite catchy. Vocal style is similar to Stereophonics, and lead guitar is similar to Oasis. 'Fly' is quite short, but is probably worth a look if you are a britpop fan."

"this songs rather cool to be honest :)"

"like it realy cheerfull lifting"

"up beat, rocky live feel, good voice."

"WRONG GENRE! THIS IS NOT CLASSICAL MUSIC! THIS IS ROCK FOR GOD SAKE!"

"this song is a very unique style of pop music very good"

Magic Ship and LoveTel Motel on the brand new CDBaby site

2009-07-17T11:49:00.000+01:00

We all love CDBaby. These are the guys who are making music from independent artists available on a global scale. They have a huge range of excellent music. It's all very searchable by style and band name and similar artists. The site has just had a reworking a rebranding and a re-launch. It looks great.

You can still buy our debut CD from there. You can download the entire album in MP3 format from there. Now they have added the ability to download individual MP3 tracks. Great!

If you haven't already. Get yourself over to www.cdbaby.com/cd/magicship and treat yourself to a copy of our album. You can download it. We'd be happy if you bought a real CD from them. We get less money, but you get the real deal. We spent a long time working on making a great product, so treat yourself and make the band happy.

Be sure to leave us a review too!

Thanks to the faithful

2009-07-13T14:18:00.001+01:00

Many thanks to the faithful and regular Magic Ship followers. We all appreciate your continued support and enthusiasm. Thanks for turning up to see us at The Clubhouse this weekend.

Thanks to TC for providing, installing and breaking down the PA too. Excellent.

CustomSkins Rule OK

2009-07-10T08:40:00.000+01:00

If you're looking for a custom printed drum skin you must go to customskins.co.uk. Their service is easy to use, the skins are of super high quality and for about £100 they make you and your drummer look fantastic

Dave has had his skin for about a year now and everytime the bass drum comes out of its case we know it's business time. Check it out in the gallery (http://www.magic-ship.com/photos.html) and at the Customskins official website:
http://www.customskins.co.uk/gallery.php?filter=bQ==

Saturday 11th July, live at The Clubhouse, Twickenham

2009-07-08T08:42:00.001+01:00

Magic Ship are playing a full double set this Saturday 11th July at The Clubhouse Twickenham. 65 Richmond Road, Twickenham, TW1 3AW. We'll be debuting more new material. If you want to be the first to hear 'Life on the Road', 'Two in the Coals, One in the flames'. 'Three Chords and the Truth'. This is your chance. We'll also be playing out classics like 'Monkeyphonic Alphabets'. This gig is totally free. We'll be on around 9pm and the venue stays open until very late. We'll see you there.

We break for tea

2009-06-23T10:47:00.001+01:00

There are times when playing in a band when things click. You're not doing anything different. You're not playing any different. and for a moment you feel like a band playing as one, playing the song, feeling the song. We had a little bit of that last night with a reprise of 'Black Holes don't Eat Everything'. We toughened up the chorus and took the song into arena territory. It really sounded and felt like a Magic Ship anthem. 3+ minutes of lighter waving energy. Excellent. The PA in the rehearsal room is dying. We have been using it for 18 months or so. We're pretty good at getting a sound out of it. Last night it sounded very bad. Let's hope that is fixed up pretty soon. Ad's amp is going home, crackling and buzzing, it's not well. It means a) he gets to get a new amp...woohoo! b) he has to buy a new amp...boooo!.

We actually had a break for tea last night. Shared out the recently printed flyers so we can all get to passing them round and putting them in the right places. Also filled out the agreement for the 6th September Brentford Festival.

Magic Ship confirmed for Brentford Festival 2009

2009-06-19T16:47:00.001+01:00

Magic Ship have been chosen to perform at this year's Brentford Festival in front of an estimated 10,000 festival goers.

Keep 6th September free and get yourself over to West London to see Magic Ship in the open air.

More details to follow.

Flyers have landed

2009-06-19T13:22:00.002+01:00

Received delivery today of the latest batch of Magic Ship flyers and posters for the shows this Summer. Clubhouse Twickenham. Half Moon Putney. Brentford Festival. We're in rehearsal putting together a brand new set featuring the new songs and Magic Ship classics.

15th June Update

2009-06-16T12:58:00.001+01:00

We all know by now that Monday night is rehearsal night. I switched back to the Alden Les Paul. The Squier now doesn't quite cut it. The Alden has real girth to the sound and delivers more crunch than distortion. It continues to be an excellent guitar. Dave trialled hi new Hi Hats - I think they were Paiste 2002 Sound Edge. He was enjoying playing them and they sounded good.

Next week is down to real business as we hone the set for the upcoming Summer tour. You know we haven't had a tea break for two weeks! That's how hard Magic Ship rock for you. Yes, you.

Magic Ship: Winners of Classic Rock Magazine's Battle of the Bands - gig schedule summer 2009

2009-06-11T13:54:00.001+01:00

Monday Night's Alright For Writing

2009-06-09T08:40:00.001+01:00

An evening at Airplay Studios cleared out the cobwebs, after all it's been about six weeks since we played together. After time off and the Mark Baker photo shoot it was time to do the thing we do third best - write some new material. We tidied up 'Two in the Coals and One in the Flames' which is now very good. It has shape and dynamics and a singable bass hook which we love. We are also coming close to finishing 'Three Chords and The Truth', with some tidying up this will be a solid song. Brand new last night were 'Life on the Road Needs a Steady Hand', a song based on the writings of Poker Legend Johnny Hughes. A proper Shipper of a song. We are also getting our fingers around one from Ad called 'Staggering Home'. It's a dirty rock and roll number, you'll like it. We'll be playing most if not all of these new songs in our upcoming summer shows.

11th July, Clubhouse, Twickenham
22nd August, Halfmoon, Putney
6th September, Brentford Festival (TBC)
25th September, Clubhouse, Twickenham

More details to follow.

Half Moon 22nd August Tickets

2009-06-09T08:30:00.001+01:00

Tickets for Magic Ship at the Half Moon, Putney are now available. Support will be from the excellent Trick Noise Makers. Get tickets online while there are still some left. http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=329268&interface=halfmoon

Rock Till You Drop Radio

2009-06-02T09:22:00.004+01:00

Magic Ship are featured on the podcast this week over at http://rock-til-you-drop.blogspot.com/2009/05/rock-til-you-drop-rock-til-you-drop.html

Toby of Rock-til-You-Drop fame picks an often overlooked track from our LoveTel Motel album 'Black Holes Don't Eat Everything'. Nice to hear it with some fresh ears. Get yourself over there.

Magic Ship on the radio 30th May

2009-05-28T16:21:00.001+01:00

More radio play for the band. This time Magic Ship's 'Lovetel Motel' will be featured on the Substock Radio Show @ Hit Music Radio, on Saturday 30th May at Midnight GMT (Or Sunday Morning, really). You can listen to the show by going to www.hitmusicradio.net at that time and pressing the 'Listen Live' button. Go listen and mail the station when we are on to tell them how much you love us!

The Clubhouse, Twickenham. 11th July. 8.30pm

2009-05-27T14:09:00.001+01:00

Magic Ship set to rock The Clubhouse, West London's newest live music venue. 11th July, it'll be a double set from around 8.30. If you've seen us before. Come again. Tell your friends. If you've never seen Magic Ship live then make the effort and we'll put on a great show for you. Venue details here www.theclubhouse.ph Oooh...nice carvery!

See you on the 11th.

Magic Ship Photo Shoot. The Griffin, Brentford.

2009-05-19T10:31:00.000+01:00

Last night saw Magic Ship Voguing for the cameras in Brentford, West London. The Griffin, home to Bees fans and home to the Hobbit football film, Green Street. Now home to Magic Ship photo shoot number 1.

Mark Baker (photographer to the stars - Afrika Bambaataa, Celine Dion, Kulashaker et al) was on camera duty and worked hard to make us look good. Hard and fast. Here's how we rolled...
> top of the fire escape stairs
> bottom of the fire escape stairs
> beer garden seated
> beer garden standing
> outside pub against black gate
> outside pub frontage
> inside pub playing cards
> inside pub lounging on bar
> inside pub in front of dartboard
> outside in the street

That took about 3 hours and a dozen costume changes. Scarf on. Scarf off. Jacket on. Jacket off. Scarf *and* Jacket on (keep you on your toes). You get the picture.

Was good fun and we'll let you see the best of the shots on magic-ship.com very soon.

Classic Rock magazine winners Magic Ship claim crown

2009-05-14T15:23:00.001+01:00

Magic Ship wins Classic Rock magazine's Battle of the Bands. After nearly two weeks of intense voting a winner is announced and it's Magic Ship with the title track from their album 'LoveTel Motel'. Read about it here: http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/news/battle-of-the-band-winner-announced/

Lucky you because you can also download the track for free right here: http://www.magic-ship.com/xspf/music/MagicShip-LoveTelMotel.mp3

You can also buy or download the whole album from Amazon, CDBaby, iTunes, Napster and other good music retailers.

Website updates

2009-05-14T14:46:00.001+01:00

Updated the site with song lyrics and chords. These are some of the original chord sheets used when writing, recording and rehearsing the songs for the LoveTel Motel album. Handwritten notes included.

We've also added a load more photos into the photo section. Surprisingly! Some from rehearsals and early LoveTel recording sessions at Airplay studios and plenty more from our live run-ins at the Half Moon in Putney, West London.

If you find the mailing list button on the site doesn't work - try using the ontact page instead to get yourself on the mailing list or just to say hello. We always like to hear comments from random strangers. Particularly if they are not about university degrees or male enhancement pills.

Keep checking back for more good stuff including shots from the upcoming photo shoot and videos from some of our live shows.

Oh - before we forget - download the LoveTel Motel MP3. It's free! Tell your friends. Sweet.

Is this thing on?

2009-05-11T10:41:00.003+01:00

Back in rehearsals tonight. Next week should see us at a band photo shoot. More news to follow.

Site update

2009-05-11T10:28:00.002+01:00

This magic-ship.com site has had an overhaul. Few new widgets and bit and bobs. Listen to the music. Check the photos. We'll be uploading lyrics and stuff soon too. Some time this week we'll be getting the Classic Rock magazine Battle of the Bands result. Keep checking back for more.

Magic Ship in Classic Rock magazine's Battle of the Bands - please vote for us

2009-05-03T20:41:00.001+01:00

We're featured in this weeks 'Battle of the Bands' in the online version of Classic Rock magazine. How cool is that? Therefore we would really appreciate it if you would just take a moment to vote for us. Here's how to vote:
From Classic Rock's website about Battle of the Bands: Ding-ding! Seconds out! Welcome to round five of Classic Rock magazine's new war of the great unsigned! The idea is simple: we'll give you access to two unsigned bands. Download their songs and then vote for the band you like the most. The following Friday we'll count the votes – and the winner will get a spot on a forthcoming Classic Rock magazine CD, taking their music to 70,000 rock fans.

Click on this link to listen to the Magic Ship song and that our opponent: http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/news/battle-of-the-bands-magic-ship-vs-fare-evaders/

If, however, you are a bit pressed for time you can simply register a vote for us by sending an email with the subject line 'Magic' to classicrock@futurenet.co.uk

Thanks very much for your support.

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5 songs in the can

2009-04-09T09:34:00.001+01:00

No one can say that we don't work hard. Over three Monday nights we recorded five brand new Magic Ship songs. Basic tracks with guide vocal the first night. Vocals on the second. Vocals, additional guitars and tambourine on night three. We barely stopped to take breath let alone listen to the playback. Since then Ian @ Airplay has rough mixed all of the tracks and they sound pretty good. They sound fun. They sound energetic. They capture us in the studio with a few laughs here and there. We ran the gamut from Merseybeat to Glam (the British 70s kind) to nuts out rockers. I think that anyone who cares about MagicShip will be very happy with the songs so far. I think a couple of key tracks will win us some new fans too.

We're back to writing again and this Monday we started on about four new songs. Col has enough lyrics to write a book so there's always something to work on. We'll get a few more of those tidied up and we'll be recording again before you know it. An album will follow. We'll keep you posted of course.

Until then there is a great chance that we'll be featured in the near future on Classic Rock magazine's cover CD. They get a readership of 70,000 so that would be a boon.

Sam.

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Recording the overdubs

2009-03-24T08:48:00.001Z

Magic Ship were back in the studio last night for the third and final recording session for the first five tracks from the difficult second album. There is a point where recorded tracks gel and become songs and to me that felt like it happened last night. Particularly with 'Painkillers and Pride'. It's always been a good song, but I never feel we play it very well, but last night with acoustic guitars added the song seemed to have finally come good. I have no idea what the rest of the overdubs last night sounded like because we worked at such a rate that there was barely a chance to hear anything back. As long as no one was grimacing then it was pretty much a take. Lead vocals, backing vocals, acoustics, tambourine, lead guitar. It's all there. Finished the last note of the last overdub at 11.59pm. Now that's working to a deadline!

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Double length for your pleasure

2009-03-23T08:51:00.001Z

Magic Ship had fun on Friday night and so did the packed house at The Globe in Brentford, West London. There was an intimate atmosphere and a real connection with the crowd...being that they were just feet away! It was definitely a more relaxed affair. Stars of the evening were Mr Lambert and Mr Butler who both enjoyed extended visits to the cigarette machine which was back and to the left of stage. Once you've been upstaged by a couple of old fellas and a cigarette machine you have nothing left to lose.

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Globe, Brentford, 20th March

2009-03-13T08:51:00.001Z

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Live at The Globe - 20th March

2009-03-12T12:32:00.002Z

Magic Ship live at the Globe brentford. Free entry. Friday 20th March. Double set. On stage 9pm.

http://theglobebrentford.com/

Photos from Airplay Studios

2009-03-12T00:24:00.001Z

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New Album Recording Session

2009-03-10T11:32:00.001Z

Last night we were back at Airplay Studios to start recording our follow up to debut album LoveTel Motel. We managed to track the basic layout of five songs. So far things are sounding good. After 4 hours of recording and playing ears and heads were tired, so it will be good to hear the work in progress next week when we go back to the studio to put down some more guitar and the vocals. New song 'Painkillers and Pride' was sounding good last night mainly because of the Hot Rods and shuffling beat that Dave was using. It's really defined the song. Once we put some acoustic guitars on it I think it will be a great Magic Ship tune. We played 'Gone Solid Gone' and 'Exasperation Station', these both go down a storm live. No surprise. Listening to the playback, they are both great songs. Foot tappers and hip swingers. Stay tuned for a few candid photos.

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More live photos from the Half Moon

2009-01-22T15:26:00.001Z

Check out a whole host of excellent live photos on our Facebook page: http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/Magic-Ship/48293714256 thanks to Mike Lucraft.

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Magic Ship at The Half Moon - Pre Show

2009-01-19T20:56:00.004Z

Magic Ship Half Moon Putney, 16/01/09

2009-01-19T10:35:00.003Z

Magic Ship took Putney by storm on Friday night. Dishing out another terrifying set of excellent material to a packed house. Video evidence:

Find more from the night at Col's YouTube page: http://uk.youtube.com/user/theaxevictim

Thanks to everyone who came to see us and cheered us on. Great to see the regulars and some new faces in the crowd.

Look out for some new posts this week with backstage video footage and pre-show photos and some live shots from the night.

Sam.

We are Live This Friday 16th January in Putney

2009-01-13T11:06:00.001Z

Get yourselves down to the Half Moon this Friday for another headline show. We have shaken off the Christmas rust, and are fighting fit for a great night. Also supporting are Fubar and Raising Sand.

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Behind the Scenes at Magic Ship HQ

2009-01-07T15:30:00.002Z

Magic Ship - The Movie. Directed by Axey Scorcese.

'Alternate reality' or 'What might have been'

2008-12-23T09:18:00.001Z

In another world, Magic Ship's debut album wouldn't have been called 'LoveTel Motel'. We came up with a lot of names and a lot of designs for album covers. I was looking through some old bits and pieces and found this one. Adam's idea which gained some support for a while. I quite like the execution with the embossed vinyl 7".

Live at the Half Moon, Putney. 16th January 2009

2008-12-15T13:00:00.002Z

Start the New Year off in rocking form with Magic Ship returning to The Half Moon in Putney for what will be a fantastic show. Support from King Funk. Get your tickets early from halfmoon.co.uk or http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=300559

White Hart, Barnes 21st November

2008-11-14T09:47:00.001Z

Friday 21st November sees us at The White Hart in Barnes. Four great acts on the bill all in for £5. Be there sharp at 8.30pm to see our full barnstorming 45 minute set. this is a lovely venue overlooking the Thames. Last time we played it was our debut show, so it will be nice to get back and give it our all again. This time we'll do it even better.

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Magic Ship - Gone Solid Gone (Fan Video, Half Moon Halloween)

2008-11-05T09:09:00.004Z

Magic Ship Live at The Half Moon, Putney

2008-11-02T22:47:00.003Z

Friday night at the Half Moon, you'll see me and the boys on the bill. What a night that was. Half Moon is a top notch venue in every respect. The guy who calls himself 'Red' on the sound was nothing less than awesome. He turned around 4 full band sound checks with great humour and aplomb. The guy is a legend. He knows his room, he knows his sound and he made all the bands sound fantastic.

We had 3 support acts who were all tough acts to follow and all brought along their own crowd. They all had their own styles and they were all different to each other and different to us. From my point of view the stand out support act were Dy-Star. Why this lot are not on a major label and living the MTV high life I don't know. They are awesome musicians with good songs and they look like a package that is ready for the pages of the rock press. See them next time they are in a venue near you, if you are into great musicianship and hard hitting, tight, rock sounds a la Audioslave/RATM meets Pink then check them out.

Enough about them, Magic Ship were the star turn. Thanks to all who came to see us and there were a lot of you. The room was packed and (I will say so myself) we delivered big time. Thanks to the sound, the lights, the songs and the energy we gave a performance to be proud of. What sets us apart from other acts is our come what may attitude and the feeling that anything we do together - be it a new song, our CD or a live show - is a real band and personal accomplishment. I think we really care that people come to see us. We really care that people like our songs. We really care about putting on a good show.

Wipe away the tears and hand me the OSCAR.

What a rock show! There was dry ice. Lasers. Feet up on monitors and howling guitars. Bass that made your chest rumble and drums that made your drink tremble like that T-Rex in Jurassic Park. We ripped through a tight 45 minute, 10 song set. On stage patter felt relaxed and comfortable. We twirled our sticks. We did funny walks. We shook our maracas. We played. We got hot. We left the crowd shouting for more.

We'll be back there soon.

Sam.

half Moon Pics 4

2008-11-02T22:09:00.004Z

Half Moon Pics 3

2008-11-02T22:06:00.002Z

Half Moon Pics 2

2008-11-02T22:02:00.004Z

Half Moon Pics 1

2008-11-02T21:58:00.003Z

Magic Ship Autumn Tour!

2008-10-28T12:37:00.002Z

One down two to go. Filthy's was great fun and a hot, hot affair. We were roasted by the fire and rocking on stage. Excellent gig pals in the form of the Trick Noise Makers and JC & the Disciples. We'll get ourselves back there soon.

In the mean time get down to Half Moon Putney this Friday 31st October 2008 for four bands and a classic rock night until 1am. That's a proper party right there.

Sam

Filthy's at The Red Lion, Twickenham 22nd October

2008-10-14T15:01:00.001+01:00

This time being advertised with a picture of a Big Dead Plane. Whatever turns you on. Glam lady in a silver goblet. Big Dead Plane. Lady. Plane. Lady. Get to the gig. We are debuting new songs. 'Gone Solid Gone', 'Exasperation Station', 'Painkillers and Pride', 'Good Times'.

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Magic Ship Live at Filthy's Twickenham 22nd October

2008-10-14T14:56:00.001+01:00

This will be a great show. Not only will you get to see us - the tremenidious Magic Ship - but also The Trick Noise Makers (who are fantastic) and JC and the Disciples (featuring none other than JC Carroll of the Members...blimey!). Get yourself down there. Sam.

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Magic Ship - Half Moon Putney 31st October 2008

2008-10-02T13:22:00.003+01:00

Magic Ship Magic Guitars pt 2

2008-09-30T21:00:00.004+01:00

This Epiphone Les Paul Jnr was just $99! I sold it. It played like a dog.

This is a pretty SG copy, probably an Avon or something like that.

This one is an Alden Les Paul. Nice look, shame about the sound.

Sam.

Magic Ship Magic Guitars

2008-09-25T00:43:00.005+01:00

Good the bad and the ugly, here are some guitars I have owned. I still have the Epi j-200 and the fox's glacier mint. I wish I still had the Les Paul double cut.

A Kramer Striker with a Floyd Rose and an EVH D-Tuna! Very metal.

Sam.

Elvis Presley is a fan of Magic Ship

2008-09-01T10:12:00.002+01:00

Look at the way Elvis covets the Magic Ship long player 'LoveTel Motel'. He knows he could have downloaded it from Amazon MP3, or from iTunes. He knows it's available on cdbaby.com. He knows it's a great record. Thank you very much.

Magic Ship + support. Half Moon, Putney 31st October

2008-08-21T16:05:00.003+01:00

Get the tickets now, they just became available and they'll go fast. This is Magic Ship & two supports and a rock party into the early hours. For a fiver! Don't forget to mention Magic Ship when ordering and on the door.

http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=282200&interface=halfmoon

See you there.

Sam.

Custom Drum Skin

2008-08-07T13:19:00.002+01:00

What makes a band look awesome more than having a custom dream head on the big bass drum? Nothing, that's what!

That's why the Magic Ship coffer is coughing up the readies for a smart graphic drum head for Dave's drum kit. We'll be unveiling that bad boy at our next gig.

Next gig? Yes - look out for details of our next gig here soon. It'll be in the London area on October 31st. That's Friday October, 31st, fact fans. For those of you counting that'll be our second show in no less than 5 months. They don't call us the hardest working band in Britain.

Sam.

Official - Dave is most popular!

2008-08-07T13:12:00.002+01:00

Did you notice that the vote closed? Well I'd like to say that the task of finding Magic Ship's most popular member was a difficult one, and it was, since there is some calculating and Vorderman style arithmetic to be done. On first glance the votes came out like this:

Ad/LEB 9 (52%)
Col/Axe 4 (23%)
Dave/Dave 2 (11%)
Sam/ALove 2 (11%)

So you can see that Ad voted for himself the most times and Col came in a close second. But there's a clear tie for the most popular blokes in the band. It's Dave and me! As I see it -being that we got 2 votes each that means they must have been genuine fans. Most likely handsome ladies voting for Dave and uncontrollable Japanese uber-fans for me. Being that Dave's name is ahead of mine alphabetically, that puts him on top.

Congratulations, Dave! Pour yourself a drink and sign some autographs.

Sam.

iTunes

2008-07-22T23:58:00.004+01:00

Sailing in a sea of data you can find Magic Ship on a voyage for fame and fortune.

We're now available on iTunes in the posh, swanky +PLUS format.

If you're an iTunes user it costs nothing to leave us a 5 star review. We'll buy you a virtual drink!

LoveTel Motel by Magic Ship - Col takes us through the album track by track

2008-07-16T18:00:00.002+01:00

I have to confess that reading reviews of our album 'LoveTel Motel' gives me a real sense of pleasure and achievement. After all, making this album was a real labour of love for all of us involved - including Ian Jackson our engineer and sometimes 'fifth' Magic Shipper. I would say that everybody seems to like different things about it and as far as I am concerned, everybody will have their own take on each of the songs and what their own particular favorites are. And why not? That, after all, is why we make music to put out into the public domain. It is not my place to argue with somebody else's personal taste, especially if they have been gracious enough to purchase our record, and for that (I am certain that I also speak on behalf of the rest of the lads) we are immensely grateful.

Regular readers will have followed many of the trials and tribulations, early demos, tantrums, tiaras, the 'you name it I have been through it' traumas of making of this album here on axevictim.com - which as you have probably guessed is not actually my name although I do actually respond now to either Axe or Axey. Both of which is a huge irony as far as I am concerned, but so what? I'm just glad that I had the foresight to register axevictim.com as my own domain name in spite of my stealing it from the title of the debut album by Be Bop Deluxe, one of my favorite English bands of all time. Sorry Bill, but I got in first, so fuck off because it's too late for you now. The quick or the dead and all that.

Before I go on, I must point out that my take on the songs on the album are only from my own personal perspective. I am not going to start telling you how Sam achieved a particular sound for a guitar solo, or how Ad set up his bass for a specific take, or that Dave para diddled when he should have para dummed. That's a matter for the lads to tell you their side of the story if they ever feel so inclined. All I can say is that they are a fantastically talented group of musicians that I am proud to play with, and more importantly I am extremely proud to have co written and recorded this album with.

What you do need to know though is that as with all of our material, Sam Day is our musical arranger and overall Quincy Jones type personage. If a song doesn't meet his stringent quality control and it's not happening, then it needs more work - and we're all hip to that. We didn't' ask Sam to be our musical arranger only to ignore what he says. That man has ears like you would not believe. He can hear a pin drop at a thousand paces! So if you're out of tune, or there is a 'clip' in the recording or a cough off mic - he will thankfully pick it up. Also, nobody ever tells anybody else what to play. We all contribute equally in our share of the overall song writing experience. For example, I might turn up with a lyric and just a couple of chords in mind. Sam might then pick it up and shake it up a little, or give it a nice little riff to get it going. Ad will always make a major contribution with his bass playing, but also as a wise sage, often knowing just what to put where when all else seems to be failing. The classic case in point is the chorus to 'Love and Glory'. I had written a really long winded lyric for the chorus that just wasn't working. "Just do the 'whoo - aha' bit Col. Drop the other crap and it'll all work out fine," he said. And it did, as if by magic. As for Dave? Well he's a proper bossy bastard the way that all great drummers should be. Dave drives everything in the band equally as hard as he drives his drums, and he punches well above his weight and contributes extensively to every song. Magic Ship is a team effort and we share everything equally, and nothing gets done unless it has unilateral backing of everybody in the band. Personally speaking, I'd have it no other way except for when they are not listening to me and doing as I say! But you can't have everything in life.

So what's all the fuss about 'LoveTel Motel' by Magic Ship? Well, let me give you my personal take on the songs.

Fly! You have no idea how much I fought not to have an exclamation mark in the title! I think I traded it off in the end to be able to call the album 'LoveTel Motel' or something along those lines. Dunno. It seems like years ago now. Most people that I know who have heard the album or own a copy of it cite Fly! as being the best track on the album. But it has been described by some as nothing but just a piece of pure pub rock. It was the first song that we ever wrote as a band together in the rehearsal room. We had the vibe of the melody, and I was filling in for our singer Keith Spouncer who had left for the first time (You Only Leave Twice in Magic Ship Meeeeeeeeeister Bond) before we recorded it (it was also the first song that we ever recorded) and I had the general meter of the lyric and even the first couple of lines such as "Got a girl, she's a friend of mine, ain't seen her in a long long time." The session ended and I recall saying to the lads 'not to worry' and that I'd have 'a lyric for knocked up' for it within the next week. I like a bit of pressure. That motivates me. So I was on a train, that was very delayed, and I am going quietly mad wishing that I was home with my family. I was missing my missus and my kids who were going up to bed and I was stuck in the middle of the country going nowhere. What to do but get my magic pencil out and work on that lyric. So it became a song - mostly - about a bloke trying to get home to his woman, anyway he can. Preferably by flying because I was wishing that I had chosen to fly, or drive or even taken a boat rather than to be stuck on that bloody train. I chose not to reflect the negative aspect in the lyric though and included the reference to 'Midnight Train' which was about me being so very late. By the time I eventually got back home from my trip I had pretty much nailed that lyric. When we got together the following week it just flowed and the song was wrapped before we had even started. It was a great feeling to watch that particular song come together. The singer returned after an ill advised flounce and I had to hand it over. We cut it at our first session with him singing it, but I always felt that I could have done a better job of singing it than him. Little did I know that I was going to get my chance! We chose to put Fly! first on the album because it has something about it that has a kind of 'bounce' factor and people say that they really like it. While it's not high art, I think that it is nevertheless a very good, catchy pop song. You ought to try writing something catchy that comes in at just 2.43 secs! We did pretty well in the end I think.

Headaches and Heartaches. Not much to say about this song except that it is one of my favorites. It was brought in as a totally finished number by Sam and we all kind of said "Yeah but it should go like this" and totally changed his arrangement! It's simply a pleasure just to play on this song. More than anything I thoroughly enjoyed the entire recording process of it. Sam and I got to sing the backing vocals 'live' together in the studio (including doing a crazy kind of dance together which has me grinning from ear to ear just thinking about it) and I also had the pleasure of opening the can of beer at the end and talking those great big gulps. Ahhh. Just a great song. I love it.

Monkeyphonic Alpahabets. Don't get me started on this one! This started life trying to be a funk/rock song because I was heavily influenced at the time by Little Barrie who are heavy rockin' but oh so funky with it, but nobody wanted to touch it. So I re wrote it as a jazzy vibe, all nice and mellow. Again, nobody would play it. I was really getting frustrated by this time because I knew that I had something good going down but I wasn't sure how to breath life into it. I stuck with it and one day, quite out of the blue, I was noodling away on the tune that we always warmed up to, which was a bastardisation of an old David Crosby vibe that he had nicked off Neil Young, and bugger me if the lyrics didn't fit it exactly! The chorus just wanted a new set of chords and it was job done. Everybody liked it. We then recorded it with a ten minute version with about 100 guitars all over it! The idea was to use a fade out technique but we later decided against this. Nobody fancied editing it either, so I spent a four hour session one evening with Ian at Airplay just trimming, trimming, trimming until we had got it down to what I regarded as an acceptable 7.30 secs bang on and most of the mess cleaned up. It still required a considerable amount of work after that to tidy up and make good, but the end result is a song that the majority of people say is their favorite Magic Ship song, including a lot of chicks. Yeah baby! If I had a penny for everybody who has said that they have no idea what it is about then I'd be quite rich by now. All I'll say is that after sending some lyrics to a mate of mine, very early on in my first flush of writing songs, he said that I was full of Transatlanticisms and general nonsense verbosity by using words such as 'baby' and so forth. Serves me right for asking for an opinion! So I set about writing a song about such verbosity and nonsense. I was reminded by a particular episode of South Park where Cartman is given a Monkey Phonics play set to help him improve his literacy and I kind of connected with the idea of using the Monkey Phonics concept to express my feeling at being regarded as nothing much more than a verbose lyricist. And this was feed back from a bloke that writes songs about homosexual prostitutes! However, it's not just about verbosity. That was just my songwriters gimmick. The song eventually became all about...

Standing Taller. Nobody ever mentions this song. I love it to bits. Again another song that was written very quickly, this time by Ad who came up with the chord progression one night when Sam was not around. I bashed out the lyrics during the session and by the time that Sam came back (from a holiday or flu or something) we had the bones of a new song that was just waiting, ready for him to arrange. I love to sing it. This song also has had everything but the kitchen sink thrown at it including the only time we ever used bongos AND a cowbell on a track!

Black Holes Don't Eat Everything. This was originally written for our singer Keith Spouncer to sing. He used to make a good job of it. I kind of stepped into the breach on this one considering that it was entirely one of my own songs, originally written and demo'd by me at home. The lads simply speeded it up and that was about it. Not much was changed aside from the usual tasteful arrangement and Ian added the piano which I think simply makes this track. I later found it quite hard to sing even though I wrote the thing!!! We all thought at the time that it was going to be our 'big number' and we could all envisage the Wembly/Twickenham crowds all holding their cigarette lighters aloft while we repeat the chorus with our feet up on the monitors holding an outstretched mic to the crowd as they all joined in. It's a song about living with depression so I doubt that it will ever gain that level of popular acceptability!

Lucky Lost. Originally called When Lucky Lost. Some people think that Lucky is actually me. There might be a grain of truth in this, but suffice to say that the song was actually written about how Lord Lucan mistakenly killed his children's nanny and was rumored (according to the newspaper article I was reading about it) to have been killed by the same people that were helping him to absconded. This was supposedly to prevent the Lucan family and the peerage from any further embarrassment and shame. It was one of the very first songs that I wrote and I am immensely proud of it. Again it was another song that was first recorded by Keith Spouncer, but I could sense that he had not done the song justice and I was planning on asking him to re record his vocals but he beat me to it and left the band for a second and final time. I probably had the hardest job, but the most fun, with this song. It took me a full four hour session to find my vocal 'motivation' because I couldn't sing the song in the register that Keith had first sung it. So after many a failed attempt I finally realised that I needed to put myself into character and become the actual killer of Lucan and not the narrator. I then asked Ian to give me a heavier drum sound and to bring Ad's great bass playing right up in the mix, I then recorded all the backing vocals which are meant to be the ethereal voices of the victims of the narrator as well as Lucan's victim, and thus the song started to come to life. Then I started getting carried away. Keys were added, thunder, lightening, screams - from a Hollywood movie sound archive - and what Sam refers to as the 'toy piano' in the intro and outro. Oh well. You can't please everybody all of the time eh? Personally speaking, I love everything about this song. Job done.

LoveTel Motel. A lyric inspired by TOL Wil Harrison's 40th birthday party celebrations. Simple really. I have always wanted to write a lyric along the lines of 'Blinded By The Light' that was full of great character names and so on. Wil provided a great blog post all about his party and the fun of the weekend's events that I simply put it all down into a lyric. I posted it on here and before I knew it I was being instructed to bring it along to band practise that same night and within a very short space of time the lads had concocted a rockin' vibe and we had this song down solid. Incredible really. I don't think that we have ever written a song that quickly.

Love and Glory. Everybody's favorite. Recorded at our very first recording session. You wouldn't think it would you? We sound like a bunch of seasoned pros. I don't even play on it. I just sing it. Rhythm guitar duties on that session fell to Keith Spouncer who couldn't sing it. My first taste of the microphone in the studio. I've been hooked ever since. It was my way of having a bit of fun and trying to write a pseudo Christian Rock cross over record even though I am not at all religious! I was simply thinking South Park and how Cartman had the idea of making a Million dollars by turning to Christian Rock. I got carried away and was trying to persuade the rest of the lads to go CR with so that we could corner the market. Thankfully they chose to ignore my new found vision! Nowadays I just sing and shake my maracas when we play this number. The lads all know where it's going!!!

Tumbling and Falling. One of the best songs we've ever written collectively. I had been badgering everybody for months to think about giving Lifeboats the band treatment and they finally caved in one day and said OK. I was thrilled, but before we had even started I was going "Yeah but before we do I've got this chord progression in me that is driving me nuts and I need to get it out" and so I start playing it and everybody just jumps on it and then Sam begins singing the first verse - just as it is on the record - and I throw in the second verse and the chorus and Sam polishes it off with a third verse and we were done. It came together so fast that it kind of caught us all off guard. We practically recorded it within a week of writing it. Our German friends call it a 'mid tempo power ballad' but I am not so sure that they are digging the vibes on this correctly. Ad's bass playing on this song is some of the best I have ever heard him play. Brilliant.

Lifeboats For the Dead. This hardly ever gets a mention which is a shame. I know Furtheron likes this song a lot, probably more than any other, but in the scheme of things it doesn't get a look in. It's a song about a dream that I had about my dad who died ten years before. It was my first dream of him. I recall that I was out and about getting my wife's ring mended and I was thinking at the time how much I wanted to write a song that featured a 'magic ship' and Bam! Right between the eyes floods back a 'closure' dream that I'd had a while ago about my old man. The lyric accurately reflects everything in that dream. Nothing was made up. I rushed back to my desk and wrote it down really fast. And cried. Great big sobs. I sent it to Sam and asked for his opinion. He suggested that it had great quality. I took it home and showed it to Mrs. Axe and watched her shoulders heave upon finishing it. Sam then demo'd it and I cried my eyes out at it. It seemed to bring my old man to life again in the song. Then it kind of suddenly died, just like him. Nobody wanted to touch it. "Let's just leave it alone as an acoustic song" they said. I was heartbroken. I shall be forever indebted to the lads for recording this song and for putting it on the album as the closing track. I still cry out loud every time I hear it, and I am more than delighted at having sung backing vocals on it. Thanks lads. From my heart.

And there you have it. Just my two cents worth and only from my own personal perspective. Funnily enough I was on a 200 mile road trip today with only one CD in the car! Thank God that LoveTel Motel by Magic Ship is such a good record.

The votes are in!

2008-07-16T10:48:00.001+01:00

So you may have noticed a vote going on for your favourite track from the LoveTel Motel album. Of the four that got a look in:

Monkeyphonic Alphabets 47%
Fly! 22%
Love and Glory 19%
Tumbling and Falling 9%

Monkey is the winner...so far. Look out for more votes on the rest of the tracks until we get an overall winner. Then we'll post a little feature on the winning song.

In the meantime - check out the new poll...'Your Favourite Member of Magic Ship'. Ad - stop voting for yerself!

Sam.

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Heff's Bar and Grill Reviews LoveTel Motel

2008-07-15T14:47:00.002+01:00

Go check out Heff's Bar and Grill for a review of the LoveTel Motel album. Heff's site is PG13. that's a 12 to us people in the UK. I warned you!

Also keep checking back in the 'Friends' section. We just updated it.

Sam.

Breaking News! 'LoveTel Motel' now available for download at Amazon.com

2008-07-13T21:44:00.006+01:00

I kid you not! Amazon.com - that's the US site - have recently broken all the rules and are offering MP3s for download. Not DRM encoded. There is nothing stopping you from enjoying the music that way you want to. On any MP3 device. It's a real first for a huge site like Amazon to offer this format from major artists and Magic Ship are happy to be part of this deal. If you are in the good old USofA, get yourself over there now and BUY SOME MUSIC!

Rocking!

Amazon Sells LoveTel Motel

2008-07-13T21:29:00.005+01:00

Cool! We are for sale on Amazon in the UK and US. Get over there now and buy another copy. Or failing that give us a review.

Looking at the clapometer, we are most popular now in Germany, with the UK and Australia being followed closely by Spain.

Tomorrow night is Monday which means it's back to rehearsals. We are playing some great new material at the moment and Col will hopefully be parading his new valve amp for us. I have a plan to re-introduce my Bad Monkey could be that it will let of some fireworks and give a nice bit of extra boost to solos and stuff.

Remind me that I also need to give Ad back his 'Saxondale' DVD and lend 'Detroit Rock City' to Col. I'm counting on you!

Sam.

Tomorrow The World!

2008-07-01T09:58:00.005+01:00

I've been away on Holiday and I come back to a Magic Ship that is a hive of activity. We are live on CDBaby.com where we have been selling to fans from Germany and Australia. Wie geht's Deutschland! G'Day Australia! I even heard tell that we were played on the radio. Played on the radio. Yes - in the centre of the rock universe that is Waterloo, Ontario...that's Canada for you lot at the back. Canadia Rocks! My dad used to live in Windsor, Ontario. Fact.

Last night at BandMonday we tidied up a whole new rocking song called 'Gone, Solid Gone'. It is a rocking boogie with a bit of slide, a real foot tapper. We also put an arrangement together for the long running work in progress that is 'Exasperation Station'. It's sounding a bit like AC/DC's 'Livewire' dosed with some 1970's glamour shuffle. All very rocking and very good.

If you are visiting here for the first time or you just bought the album or want to say hello, leave us a comment. We love comments more than we love tea. Mmmmnmm tea.

We're back in stock

2008-06-25T23:11:00.002+01:00

Anybody worrying that CDBaby wasn't going to be able to fulfil their orders for our debut album, 'LoveTel Motel' by Magic Ship, will be pleased to know that it is now back in stock and that we shall be shipping a further amount to avoid any stock shortages in future. By my reckoning, if they sell out again we should be half way up the charts!

LoveTel Motel abum reviews

2008-06-14T12:36:00.006+01:00

We don't want you to think that we've got our heads up our own arses but we are chuffed to blazes by the really groovy reviews that some of our fellow bloggers have been writing about our debut album 'LoveTel Motel'. Read them all and them maybe make up your own mind by getting a copy for yourself or as a present for somebody who you think think will like our brand of music. But don't just take our word for it, read the reviews and see what you think?

Maiden Voyage

Hello Sailor

The Magic Ship CD Review Post

I'm with the band

2008-06-12T19:29:00.010+01:00

Make yourself known. Get your face on the magic-shipternet! Send us a photo of yourself. If you are holding a copy of our album or wearing one of our band t-shirts all the better.

Mail us a photo and we'll post it... friends@magic-ship.com

Here is our first! Big shout to Sky from Surrey. Her favourite track on the album is 'Lucky Lost'.

Nextly we have Nathan all the way from Nashville, Tennessee! He rocks a mean Tele. Show us your 'Oh!' face, Nathan...

Here is Debbie! Debbie! Great T, D.

Next up is Donna. Donna hails from Alabama and cuts a fine figure in her lady size Magic Ship T. Rockets!

More pics and a live track

2008-06-10T19:35:00.011+01:00

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 Ad Infinitum.......

Sly & Robbie and half a Col

Where's me beer?

Ah. Here it is (was)

LoveTel Motel - Live

Big, Big Thanks to Istvanski for bootlegging.

Up the Palace.

Cheers Ad

That's the way I wanna rock 'n' roll

2008-06-09T09:00:00.001+01:00

There is so much detail from Friday night that it would take a book to get it all out. But here is a rough idea of what went on...It was a *great* show. We took the stage at around 11pm on Friday night. That's well past my bed time. With a stomach full of crisps, fizzy drinks and butterflies I was feeling more liking sitting still than rocking. But as soon as 3am (who kindly loaned their PA) left the stage we were all chomping at the bit to get on and give the crowd a good time. Good time is what we gave. It really was an exciting event, I'm sure everyone of the hundred and fifty or so people that was there would agree. Here are the first few photos that have come dripping through to us. If you have any photos of the night please forward them to us and we will post them up here. Thanks to all of you who came - hope you loved it as much as we did.
Sam.

Get Started!

Album launch party tonight

2008-06-06T15:28:00.003+01:00

Click the peacock for details. Bring your dancing shoes!

LoveTel Motel available now

2008-06-05T15:17:00.004+01:00

Yes folks, the wonderful team at Stone Island Records have now listed our debut album 'LoveTel Motel' on their excellent website under the category heading of Classic Rock. You can now order your very own copy of this long awaited and much discussed LP recording by Magic Ship from Stone Island Records here . We hope that you enjoy listening to this album as much as we enjoyed making it. And don't forget that we mixed it so that you will be able to get the most out of it through either earphones or speakers, just so long as you remember to play it loud! Dancing is unavoidable. Grab a copy before it's too late.

Buy buy blackbird

2008-06-04T19:17:00.004+01:00

Pre label rarities of our LP record 'LoveTel Motel' are currently changing hands under the counter on the black market at a rate of knots, so if you feel that you really want an early doors copy and you can't wait the extra week or so for it to become available online, you can always send £8.99 + £1.00 post and packing via PayPal to Sam who will send you a personalised autographed copy. ***UPDATE...Why pay with PayPal when you can order easily from Stone Island Records CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW ***

Here's what somebody sort of said about it: "I always thought that Magic Ship would deliver a good album, but I never imagined that it was going to be a great album. I got my copy yesterday and played it three times on the bounce."

So if you want to be in with the in-crowd and can't make it to our album launch party this Friday and fancy having Sam's autograph as well, go mad and fill your boots. We'll even throw in a free Magic Ship t-shirt to our millionth customer.

So much going on that it hurts your brain

2008-06-03T20:15:00.001+01:00

Blimey, these last few days have all been go on the Magic Ship. Website up, album received. Now Col tells us we've had a load of branded T-shirts delivered. Last night was the final practice before Friday's gig at Ye White Hart. It took us a run through to warm up and a second time round the songs to play them well. It'll be something else to play in a big room. In fact something else to play outside the four walls of the rehearsal room.

I like to keep things simple, but at the moment there are so many things happening it is far from simple. Now I see why bands have tour managers and promo teams and web designers and marketing departments and hair stylists and m&m filterers! It means they can go on stage and play and wake up the next day in the next town and play again and keep doing that until they are told to go and speak to the people at Horse and Hound magazine. Then go on Top of the Pops. Then go on stage again. Like being at school or in the army I suppose, but with more fans.
Sam.

Magic Ship SPECIAL podcast delivered by Rockmother

2008-05-31T14:35:00.008+01:00

Top ranking! ROMO (Rockmother to those who just met her) has made a special - and I don't use those bold things lightly - special podcast for the LoveTel Motel album launch. Rockmother is a seasoned expert in all things and especially music. This is podcast 18 in a series so she obviously knows what she's talking about.

Now stop reading and go listen...here.

You could also click this link to download it...

Anyway, give over. It's great! Go now.

Sam.

Undies

2008-05-30T18:30:00.003+01:00

Well today I was asked to sign my autograph for the first time since 1978, when I was the hot drummer in the band "Smile", signed up to Rascal Records or some such thing... it was about the time I was asked to model fruit machines in my undies - sadly no photos exist (unless you know better...).

Yesterday was the day

2008-05-30T09:01:00.003+01:00

So yesterday late afternoon we had touchdown of a pallet load of CDs. The guys in the band tell me it looks great. (The CD not the pallet). It sounds great. So it must be great. I can only guess since I didn't pop round to Col's to pick one (or 25) up yet.

When I do, I think I'll feel more relief than anything, since sending someting off to print when you've never done it before is an uncomfortable feeling. It's all very well designing bits and bobs here and there for the web and for fun, but this was a big project and at the end a hard copy. Real printing. It's a different world.

Sam.

Today's the day

2008-05-29T08:36:00.002+01:00

Looking forward to receiving shipment of the new album today. We have our man on the ground waiting to accept delivery. We have champagne (cup of tea) and dancing ponies (dancing ponies) ready to join the parade. I can't say it's been a long time coming 'cause we only sent these off to production a couple of weeks ago. But it seems that out of nothing and nowhere we've made an album that's the real deal. You'll be the judge, Judy.

Sam.