Ben Sherman Blog

The Capital Beat and Eight Bit Meet Again

The Finnish 8-piece ska/reggae outfit 'The Capital Beat' have just released their new single 'Sweet Sweet.' The song is taken from their forthcoming, yet untitled, second studio album, due to be released in February/March 2011.

The single is accompanied by one of the most respected choirs to date, the Grammy Award winning Soweto Gospel Choir from South Africa. The choir has worked with artists like Bono, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Diana Ross, Celine Dion and Aretha Franklin. They have also collaborated with U2 on 4 songs for ESPN's World Cup 2010 television broadcasts.

The song Sweet Sweet is also a collaboration with Finnish rap-champ Cstar, bringing the song a fresh, exciting and, above all, sweet twist.

The cover art was again done by Ben Sherman's own Brand Ambassador Matt B / Eight Bit (you can follow him on Twitter)

New promo pictures of the band in their Ben Sherman shirts and gear:

http://www.fullsteamrecords.com/app/gallery/gallery/-/dir_id/342

The song 'Sweet Sweet' can be found from Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u8X2uu4kA4

 

 

 

 

Sex, Drugs and Pie & Mash (without the first bits)

It is cold, it is very cold. It is so cold that I’m afraid to stay in one spot for too long for fear of being frozen to the ground. So what better way to warm up than partaking in one the most unusual Leagues that London has to offer. The Pie-n-Mash club is what it says on the tin, the plan is to meet, greet and then plough in to the finest cuisine that has epitomised the cockneys for so long.

The Rules are simple. Eels and Pies are 4 points, Mash 2 points and Liquor 1 point. Eat as much as you can without leftovers and the points are yours. Then, over the course of a “season”, spent visiting various establishments around London, the winner is the person with the most points (funny that).

Now, i know what you’re thinking. Why! And to be honest there is no right answer. Sitting in Cookes Pie house in London Fields, you would be just as likely to see a sharp suited ‘city boi’ walk in as you would a bricklayer. And herein lies the secret, Pie and Mash is....... wait for it..... just food. Yep that’s it. It’s just a pie with some mash (not forgetting the liquor) nothing fancy, nothing to get Heston Blumenthal worked up about, it’s just meat, pastry and potatoes.

What was originally seen as the cheap filling meal of the 18^th century,  has gradually found its self a niche market in modern London. Cockneys for far and wide will travel just to get a decent one, locals will pop in for something warm, tourist’s will try it ‘with the green stuff’ and all will enjoy it, well most will. So widespread is the appeal that if you should happen to walk into Bow Locks pub in Tenerife on a Saturday, you will find yourself surrounded by a swarm of West Ham fan’s all tucking into a pre-match pie’n’mash, freshly shipped in from London that day.

The quintessential British meal is always a Sunday roast, the north has chips and gravy and the south east has the greatest of them all Pie and Mash, and here in this very pie house the word is spreading nationwide. BBC cook show The Great British Menu is here to cover the story, talk to the people who eat it and the people that cook it and to try and work out why on earth people like it to the point where they would join a club and eat it to get points. I’ll be dammed if I know but one thing’s for sure: I’m having 3 pies, 2 mash and plenty of Liquor. 17 points, easy!!

http://www.pie-n-mash.com/

 

Introducing....The Universal

Scott, one of our Ben Sherman Brand Ambassadors, has been out scouring the new music scene again and has found another emerging British band that our Ben Sherman fans should take note of. See what he has to say about them below. Introducing, The Universal....

Liverpool, that world famous hub of musical creativity spawning such greats as The Beatles, The Coral, The La's and of course the best of them all, A Flock of Seagulls. And now as we approach the end of the first decade of this new century, the city has come up trumps yet again. The Universal are making waves and they are reaching further afield than just the Mersey estuary.

Old fashioned "Mod-Rock" is where the quintet are based but this isn't a tribute act to the mod revival bands of the 80's, a doff of the cap, yes, but see them live and you will clearly see this is very much a band for the here and now. Debut Single "Day In Day Out" is a bass heavy thumping song that tells you all you need know about this band in an electric two and a half minutes. Front man Terry Shaughnessy's early influences of The Jam and The Small Faces are evident in the vocal and guitar style, but a hit on their myspace page will give you the chance to listen to tracks Stand Up, Revolution and Shine On which give up but just a taste of what these lads can really do. A grown up The Enemy with a bit of the polish worn off is my evaluation and I’m sticking to it. Download the album now and decide for yourself.

With dates all around the country from now until June, should you get the chance to see this band live, do it, you will not be disappointed as this is when they really come alive. The Universal may not revolutionise the British music scene but trust me, they are doing their bit.

Check The Universal out for yourselves here: http://www.facebook.com/TheUniversalBand 

http://www.myspace.com/theuniversaluk

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheUniversalUK

 

Reading is the Reason

The worst kept secret of the weekend was that The Rats billed on the Lock-Up stage were actually Watford punk outfit Gallows and to a crowd size testament to their popularity they stormed through a set that can only cement their place as one of the best live performers in the UK today. Wall’s of death (where two sets of fan’s race and collide into each other from across the tent), Human pyramids and a wheelchair crowd surfer are things that you seem only to expect from Reading Festival, which, is where I was pitched up for the Glorious(debatable) Bank Holiday weekend.

The line-up was one of the most diverse I had seen in a while and show how much the average festival goers musical tastes had changed in recent years. Performers like Dizzy Rascal were met with great adulation by half and disgusted by the rest. Being in the latter half my weekend was spent drifting from stage to stage taking in as much as I could.

Friday saw a dejected and sodden crowd wake up to a baking hot day, but still a few inches of mud that would making walking around the camp site and painful process. Reading staples Gogol Bordello put on a typical high energy performance that only a bunch of gypsy punks could do. Start Wearing Purple being a particular highlight as a set finishing sing along. Veteran punks NOFX made no secret of their distaste of being on the main stage but still put on a good 20 minute set, although it was their unannounced set on Saturday night that they really put in the effort and made a cracking show. Biffy Clyro and Queens of the Stone Ages both cemented today as the day of rock with some performances that got the by now huge crowd jumping along and ready for headliners G’n’R. Not being my cup of tea I missed out on the near 2 hour wait before they graced the stage, and by all accounts it was not worth the wait.

Saturday was all about two bands for me Gallows and The Libertines, having seen their Forum warm up show I knew their was every chance that they would be able to take that kind of performance onto the big stage, and boy oh boy did they do that. With a front man as frowned upon as much as Peter Doherty it would have been all to easy to write them off completely no matter how they performed. And yet I have not seen a single bad word wrote about them since. Long may it continue. Earlier in the day The Cribs and The Maccabees kept the crowd going along with typical indie rock that although not spectacular were by no means average. So just to confirm they were somewhere between spectacular and average, some might call that, good, but hey not me.

Sunday saw sporadic showers and sunshine that made sure leaving the tents was never a safe option unless running to the bar or the dreaded toilets. Finally the clouds parted long enough for a sizeable crowd to watch undeniable start of Shooting Starts Angelos Epithemiou and his bag grace the Alternative stage. And supplied with an entire 3 jokes his 20 minute slot seamed surprisingly short. On the main stage comedy rap act (well, in my mind they are) Limp Bizket brought back the sound of ‘99 to an audience who were barely out of nappies at the time of album Significant Other. After a, what I imagine to be great set by Cypress Hill that I missed thanks to the loss of my time schedule along with my wallet, Weezer took the stage. If asked to name their songs I would get Buddy Holly straight away and then struggle for awhile. So it is testament this vastly underrated band that even I knew most of their 16 songs they played. Although it was a cover of Wheatus’ Teenage Dirtbag that was greeted with some pretty pop filled crowd pogo-ing. Surprising my favorite band of the day came about as a total fluke, after missing out on pie-n-mash I went in search of some food that wouldn’t melt my guts the next day, I then stumbled across the Introducing stage and a 4 piece called Redtrack who hail from Southend-On-Sea close to my neck of the woods. A small crowd had gathered which wasn’t a good representation of the 4 or 5 songs that I witnessed. Songs like The Trier and Imogen were played with a real tightness that shows that these guys mean business, I doubt the crowd next year will be as small. Apparently they have already won a Hollyoaks music competition but I won’t hold that against them, as since getting home their songs have been practically all that has graced my spotify playlist. 3 last words, CHECK THEM OUT. If Limp Bizket took us back to ‘99 then headliners Blink-182 tied us down till '04 with a hit laden set. Although in my opinion they seamed sloppy and under-rehearsed there was one shining light that blew the crowd away. Drummer Travis Barker who I think is one of the best drummers around was soo frantic in his display and yet never missed a beat. They highlight being a Tommy Lee style drum solo where Travis and drum kit where lifted up into the air and rotated upside down and still never a symbol was hit out of place.

So with Reading 2010 over with, the question is does the quality of the bands outweigh all the rubbish hats, crap weather, cost and the over zealous security. By the skin of its teeth I would say yes, but the line up next year will have to be just as good to convince me not to attend a few smaller festivals instead.

 

The Reunion - Part One

Seven years, five albums and countless column inches had all boiled down to this. The first public performance for The Libertines. Wednesday 25^th August was the date, the HMV Forum the venue and at 9:30, the four slightly older band mates took the stage and ripped straight in to a version of Horrorshow that would make even the most skeptical of fans realize that this isn’t one last cash filled hurrah, oh no, this was it, this is what it always would be, this is the raising of the good ship Albion and with a new found energy maybe this time they will make it to Arcadia.

 

Having been signed up for Reading and Leeds festival the excitement between fans as to what warm up shows would be played was pretty much a fever pitch. Expectations of impromptu gigs at the Rhythm Factory never materialized and with only a few weeks to the festivals word came that the band had only just started rehearsing. Now call me old fashioned but if I’m preparing for one of the most crucial weekends of my musical career, the kind that could bring euphoria like that seen with The Specials last year or the utter appalling showings as seen when the Beatles reformed in 1995 (so I’m told), then I think I would like start dusting off the old song book a bit sooner than 2 bloody weeks before hand. But hey, that’s just me and maybe, just maybe that’s why I’ll be sleeping in a tent at Reading this year and the Libs will be sleeping in a bigger tent...of money!

 

I digress, last week the news everyone was waiting for was released, The Libertines would be playing a one off show and the only way to get tickets is to enter a ballot. A mad rush ensued people like me would sign up everyone I could get my hands on, and after initial rejection I managed to get a ticket, even though it was upstairs standing, nothing would spoil this great occasion. And as it turns out, all you need is a few like minded people and in the furthest corner of the Forum we had created our very own little ‘pit’.

 

The set was all about business, no larking about no stage dives just a pure focus to play the songs in the best possible way they could, and boy did they get a bingo. Every track was a reminder of the good old days, but as Pete says, ‘there are no good old days, these are the good old days,' and nothing could be truer. If this is to be a mere warm up to greater things to come (new songs maybe) then I for one will be at the front of the queue, boarding pass in hand ready to sail into that sunset.

 

 

 

Set List

'Horrorshow'

'The Delaney'

'Vertigo'

'Last Post On The Bugle'

'Tell The King'

'Boys In The Band'

'Music When The Lights Go Out'

'What Katie Did'

'Can't Stand Me Now'

'Death On The Stairs'

'The Ha Ha Wall'

'Don't Look Back Into The Sun'

'Time For Heroes'

Encore

'Campaign Of Hate'

'Begging'

'Lust Of The Libertines'

'What Became Of The Likely Lads'

'The Good Old Days'

'Up The bracket'

'What A Waster'

'I Get Along'

Alex Gets Offended.

So me and the lovely lady went to a gig different to the ones we usually frequent last night. We went to see one of the most mental bands I have seen since Prodigy at Reading festival last year! Does it Offend You, Yeah? As the name asks, it did. They were crazy! And also fresh from supporting Prodigy on their recent world tour. It's not often I go to gigs with mosh pits! I enjoyed it very much as an event but it was more show than substance for me. With some great dance rock tunes, they are what I deem a weekend band. Music to party to.  They also had a support act that really interested me. The band Worship really stood out. With galactic sounding songs that reminded me of Radiohead, I really enjoyed them. Also their bassist/ keys player is my band's recording engineer and producer. So I promise I'm not being biased!

 

 

Also on that note my band, Golden Hours, are recording at the moment so hopefully we will be releasing some of it very soon! Got some really awesome stuff coming up so I will do some more blogs ASAP!

 

Keep up to date with our Brand Ambassador Alex by following his Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/alexwookie

 

Does it Offend You, Yeah? will be supporting Kele in a series of gigs in the US with Nylon and sponsored by Ben Sherman! Check back here and on our Ben Sherman Facebook Fan Page (http://www.facebook.com/bensherman) soon, for details on how you fans from the States can bag yourself some tickets!

 

Take a ride on the wild side with the Camber Sands Scooter Rally.

Pictures provided by Scott Cecil.

Camber Sands Scooter Rally 2010 – Part 1 The Journey

The football season is over, the days are longer and the pollen count is up, This means one thing in my mind, the scooter rally season is upon us!! The highlight of the scooterist’s calendar is the Chelmsford Scooter Clubs, Camber Sands Rally down on the South East coast.

The 80 mile journey is ‘just’ the right distance to get to by scooter and here is the story of the arse-aching adventure.

The best laid plans always fail, thats  why we tend not to make them. So the idea was that the 8 of us would travel down on a mix of scooters and cars. Then as with any bright idea, it soon fizzled out. My old man had left work late, meaning he couldn’t ride his Lambretta SX200 back from the west end as it had no lights, Hemsby Hogg’s had gone caput, Stock’s was finger tip deep in grease replacing a carburettor and Potter is just useless.

So after a mad dash to pick up the SX in the morning we were down to 3 scooters and the rest in cars. We finally leave Thurrock 3 hours later than ‘planned’ and without meeting up with another 15 lads from Brentwood, and thankfully the rest of the journey is spectacularly uneventful.

 This obviously doesn’t make for good reading, I know you all want to hear about the journey from hell, where we end up in some backward country village and are forced to sell a few body parts in exchange for safe passage through the town but alas, not today.

Riding through the great land we call Englandon, on a scooter is one of the finest experiences you will ever come across.

As we get closer to the coast the never ending stream of petrol stations slowly start filling up with more and more scooters. Men and women of all ages, on an endless array of vespa’s and Lambretta, each as unique and stunning as the last. From the custom TV175 down to my crappy, T5, each scooter has its own story and all are welcome.

We hit the final stretch and thoughts turn to the first beer of the day. After 2 and a bit hours, your mind tends to wander a bit and there’s nothing like the promise of beer to focus it. Open up the throttle and feel the wind and bugs (bloody bugs!!) fly past your face. Finally were there, park up, helmet off, wallet out. Now where’s that bar?

Camber Sands Scooter Rally 2010 – Part 2 The Weekend

So, here we are again, Camber Sands holiday camp. Beautiful weather, beautiful surroundings (if you like 1960’s holiday parks) and about 5000 people all intent on dancing and drinking the next two nights away. The fridge has been stocked, and our bellies fed and its to put on our best threads and head out. Tonight me and my ever faithful china, Neilshafto, are going all out. I’m wearing my blue super slim suit and blue candy stripe shirt and Neil sports a plum (almost slim) suit and its no surprise that we look rather fetching, when you take a peek at the labels, (thank god for Ben Sherman!).

We all head to the hall (well almost, it’s 9 o clock and were one man down already, Bennie has felt the long cold shaft of the recession and has been drinking since mid-day, he’ll not make it out tonight, but we wont allow him the sleep he craves), the first band are ok but we head to the bar and get our mitts on a few beers to kick the night off. The next band come on pretty soon after and soon were all bopping along to the sounds of the Stone Roses courtesy of the tribute band Adored. A few beer’s later and even our feet are moving. Time then to switch to the ‘easier to handle on the dance floor’ jack and cokes. Last band of the night are Definitely Mightbe, an Oasis covers band, who also just so happen to be the previous band. After much jumping, flailing of limbs and drinks the band finish up and its back to the safety of the bar. The drinks take a leaf out of Noah’s book and now come in there two’s.  Before I know it the band are back on for what they call an encore, reality is that the encore is nearly as long as the original set!

 The rest of the night is a mixture of drinking dancing and stumbling back to the apartment to wake and annoy Bennie the deserter. Eventually the legs give up on us, the heart is willing but the energy just isn’t there. One by one we fall back to the safety and security of our beds. Sleep doesn’t come easy when the sun is already beaming in through the windows but slowly I drift off into slumber.

 Saturday, much to do and much to see, not forgetting of course that we have the small matter of the world cup quarter finals to enjoy. While most people enjoy a nice lie-in after a night of drunken dancing, there are those weird freaky people who just have never encountered a hangover. Unfortunately I am not one of those people. So when at 9 o clock people start up their scooters its like a dagger to my heart. In a instant I’m awake and with no chance of any more sleep. I look, feel and move like death. Not a pretty sight. All around me people are moving, talking, laughing and revving them bloody scooters. I feel like a POW who has been though months of sleep deprivation and then dropped into the middle of the Rio Carnival.

Mid day comes and the scooter ride-out starts, hundreds of scooters descend on the road together, it a magnificent sight, beaten only by that of John Terry missing a Champions League Final Penalty. But alas, I am not there to witness it, the JD and Cokes that were my friends last night have decided that they have had enough of my company and would like to leave immediately, the comfort of darkness and solitude is what I crave. But hey, at least no-one is revving them bloody scooter’s no more. The rest of the day is spent watching mindless TV until finally its time to somehow ready ourselves for the night out. This is done the only way I know how, JD’s a shower and a few more JD’s.

 The line up for tonight is disappointing but still worth the effort of getting out of bed. Smodati are a four piece from Italy and they don’t disappoint, they have a energy about them that lift’s the room and slowly but surely more and more people start to liven up. Headline act of the weekend are the Lambrettas, a mod revival band from the late 70’s/early 80’s.They play a simple set of new and old songs with a few cover’s thrown into the mix, but what everyone wants to hear is “Poison Ivy” undoubtedly the hit of their back catalogue. As the band finish thoughts turn to the Northern Soul Dance Competition downstairs in the “Soul Room”, here everyone who dares is welcome to strut their stuff on the dance floor until you get the dreaded tap on the shoulder from one of the judges. As the dancers are whittled down the moves get better and better, the spins are tight, the drops are err dropalicious?, and the footwork could give Michael Flatley a run for his money. The winner is announced and now its back upstairs for some more dancing and drinking until once again my leg’s decide that enough is enough and my bed is where they would rather be.

 And that’s that for another year, the scooters, the dancing and the drinking are what bring people back here year after year. A good time had by all and now all there is to worry about is the long arduous journey home, wonderful. Still, I wouldn’t change a thing!

 

Alex Wookie takes on Comedy Cat

Ok right so it has taken far too long to write about this due to parties, gigs, writing new music and eating new music.

So here it is –About a month I went to a small venue in the daytime which is very surreal for me! I barely go out when the sun is up! It was in the middle of some really old looking derelict factories in Shoreditch. I was really looking forward to it because it isn't often you get asked to be in a video. I was there because I was starring in well-known London based comedian Jim Bowes’s music video! Seriously after I stopped dying of laughter and about 5 hours of recording we had recorded a brilliant and very off-centre verison of Vanilla Ice's song Ice Ice Baby. It was so much fun to do but if you are going to hold me in a room for 5 hours do not feed me beer. They had my favourite beer and they kept buying more...it was such a struggle. Well, I suppose someone's gotta do it! Check the video out and tell us what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU1RVzF9xv4

Jim Bowes will be playing this video at his shows at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival after huge popular appeal from his recent multi-date shows in Brighton.

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Girls/Boys/Smells/Noise: An Audience with Madness

 

  

Illustration by : Matt Macabre

As we all know, Ben Sherman promotes so much more than looking great, its about an attitude, a lifestyle; its as much about the clothes on your back as records in your jukebox and followers of the brand will be familiar with recent collaborations between Ben Sherman and iconic British musicians including David Bowie and the Beatles. Well this year is no exception and the latest addition to the Ben Sherman Alumni is London’s own giants of two-tone, Madness.

On May 5^th, to celebrate their union with the ‘Nutty Boys’ Ben Sherman threw an exclusive party at Flowerpot in the heart of Camden Town, perhaps one of the most intimate venues the band has played since they first formed over 30 years ago. Oh… and did I mention I got invited?

I was absolutely ecstatic to receive the email from the team, I knew something was on the cards because the Ben Sherman/Madness alliance had been mentioned at the January conference that the other Brand Ambassadors and myself had attended (all three of us already plotting how we could possibly weasel our way in to a gig) but to be invited without any sulking, hinting, or bribery at all and to be part of such a small audience for such a huge band… I was over the moon!

As part of my trip to the big smoke, Ben Sherman had also asked me to put my drawing skills to good use in the venue, decorating the chalk boards behind Flowerpot’s bar for the event.  I jumped at the chance to get involved and despite a very hurried performance to get finished on a tight schedule, I had a fantastic time being part of the behind the scenes bustle (I even got heckled by Suggs during their sound check)

As the evening rolled around the doors opened and crowds eagerly appeared: a collection of employees, special guests, photographers, fanatics, press, and competition winners; all very excited and equally aware of the privilege of attending such a cosy gig. By the time Madness made for the stage Flowerpot was crammed wall to wall and shoulder to shoulder with rude-boys and girls, the band had to form a conga-line through the audience reminiscent of the Mad-train in order to make it to the front but were encouraged along by their fans’ elated applause. Whether it was gratitude for the warm welcome, or more likely, that they don’t perform any other way - the boys played a magnificent set of 17 songs including all the big hits, rousing the audience into a euphoric sing-a-long. As I took a moment to look around the room united amidst the swaying, smiling mass, it became even more apparent how and why Madness have managed to stay at the top of their game over the course of 3 decades… It must be love.

 

 

 

 

 

Have a listen.... Plan B - Strickland Banks

The music scene at the moment is one that can both delight and infuriate. For every good band out there, you get 4 or 5 mediocre ones that wouldn’t be given the light of day back when “indie” music wasn’t the flavour of the month. Scouting For Girls is perhaps one of the most obvious middle-of-the-road bands that I can think of, and that is without trying. And yet every single they release is pretty much guaranteed a top ten position in the charts. Its enough to make you want to turn your back on music altogether.

But then, out of nowhere, something emerges out of the dark to really grab you by the kahoonas and make you say “This sounds nothing like Scouting For Girls!” This, my friends, is exactly what Plan B’s latest offering has done to me. The Defamation of Strickland Banks is an intelligent, sharp and well written album brought to you by some one whose previous lyrics have included “I break a bottle over some boys head, stab a broken piece in to the poor [expletive] leg”. Not exactly top ten stuff.

Plan B’s first album was a graphic tale of East London living through the eyes of an youth. Absent fathers, underage relationships and honour killings are some of the gritty subjects he raps about. And yet, all is done in a way that really makes you think about the words that are being said to you. This record was so far away from being middle of the road, so much so, that the road is a dot to it.

So when I first heard that Plan B was doing a “Soul” record, I was somewhat surprised. Even more so when I saw that he popped up as a lead character in British film Harry Brown, staring Michael Caine as a man pushed to the edge by exactly the type of character that Plan B had sung about on his debut.

The end product, The Defamation of Strickland Banks is without doubt an absolutely shocking record. And by shocking I by no way mean bad. Its shocking when you consider who it came from, shocking at how well it has been received and most important shocking as to how good it is. The whole album is a story of a Soul singer who is imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. It follows him from nights out, being in court to the troubles that life in prison hold on a daily basis. The idea being that this story is being made into a film, supposedly right now.

Writing a good album is one thing, writing a good story is another. What Plan B has done here is combine the two without compromise, no song on the album is merely there as a filler to continue the story. And each song is without doubt worthy of a top ten chart position, and so far that has been the case. Singles “Stay Too Long” and “She Said” are both feet tapping, dance floor filling songs that showcase not only the new soulful direction of the album but also the gritty rapping that ensures the record is very much in the here and now. Standout tracks “Praying” and “Recluse” are more energetic and will surely be hitting the charts soon. “Praying” being very similar to the classic Frankie Valli track “Beggin”, and comparisons to Smokey Robinson will surely mean that it will appeal to different generations of music fans.

The Defamation of Strickland Banks has taken the Album Charts by storm, twice taking the number one spot. Something that a young Ben Drew growing up Forrest Gate could never of dreamed of, and yet here we are. So go now, down to your local music establishment and treat yourself, this after all, is defiantly not Scouting For Girls.