We have been slack here at LW HQ with updating our blog, so here follows a few memories from a summer that has just been hectic and wonderful and funfilled and too short!
We have had what some people might say, 'too many shows in too short a time', but what we'd say is, it's been an awesome time! We are feeling a little tired, but in a good way, and every time tiredness is about to get us, adrenaline kicks in, for hey, another gig is coming up in very few days!
We just want to thank you ALL for this summer of happiness, bands and guest DJs, friends who we see more or less of (unfortunately social lives outside of music have been suffering, we promise to make it up to you somehow very soon!) and the new and old 'librarians' who attend our gigs. It means the world to us to see your happy faces, fistpumping, screaming and crazy dancing.
We only met a year ago when Roo and James (long-distance librarian) were asked by David, a random gig goer at Indietracks whether they were Swedish. None of them are, but decided to hang out with David anyway. The day after Silja (Scandinavian alibi, though not Swedish either) came up to join her two friends James and Roo - the four of us were hanging out the rest of the festival, and by the time Indietracks was over we had decided to start a club night. So this summer has been special, especially going back to Indietracks for the second time and knowing such lovely people there this time around.
We want to continue putting on nights forever and ever, or to quote Lisa Bouvier; (said and sung about Indietracks) 'every year until we die'. We just have to eat our vitamins and the spinach provided to us by loyal LW'er Roger Mairlot, and hope our health and energy stays UP for more and more club nights in the months (and years?!) to come.
We have quite a few nice surprises coming up this autumn, and first of all Help Stamp Out Loneliness, Would-be-goods and Amor De Días on Sat 3rd of September at the Bull and Gate.
Looking forward to an autumn filled with music, library books and good people.
Lots of love
David, Roo and Silja LW xx
Some photos from our summer, below! The professional looking band photos are by Johnny Raper - exceptionally talented photographer and friend! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnnyraper/) The rest are from our single use cameras..
Curry in LW HQ with Kuryakin and Action Biker.
Our new home on 16 July, Zigfrid von Underbelly in Hoxton Square.
Tigercats, one of our favourite London bands, they are destined to be as big as the Wave Pictures, just ACE. Our favourite track is 1985 (Explicit). Dance dance dance! (Duncan Barrett in the photo)
The Sunny Street's talent stretch far beyond the borders of London and the UK. They recently played NY Popfest, and we were so lucky to have them playing LW. Amazing set. (Delphine Sunny in the photo)
Kuryakin (SE) has never played a gig in London before. They are David LW's top favourite in the world, and it was a dream come true for him to see them. We were stunned by their performance, it was so pure and beautiful. Reminiscent of Kings of Convenience. (Petter Gjores in the photo)
Action Biker (SE) iced cupcakes and then went onstage to sparkle! The audience were all transfixed, her music and the backdrops by Kristian Nihlen made this the perfect ending to a just a wonderful night.
The ending? Did we say the ending? Of course we danced the night away, then went on to an afterparty to eat burned halloumi cheese!
We hope to see you at one of our LW nights soon, come dance like a crazy librarian!
Then we went to Indietracks and spent the best time with our friends, for example James Ballantyne and Alex Kitchen as seen here, chilling out to lovely indiepop.
And our tentmate and popstar, Lisa Bouvier aka Westerlund.
And Richie, of course.
And Emily and Craig of Another Sunny Day Indiepop Club.
We even went to church! (but only to listen to some truly amazing bands, The Proctors, Victoria and Jacob, Amor De Días, Moustache of Insanity and A Little Orchestra!)
And we tried... to learn how to ride a (wooden) horse.
We succeeded! (horse photos by Lisa Westerlund, our coach!)
A good time was had by all. (hence the blurry photo on the day of departure!)
The day after Indietracks we hosted a post-festival/camping-come-down gig at the Dogstar in Brixton, with bands that had played the festival - and an excellent guest DJ all the way from Japan.
A day after getting back from the festival Lisa Bouvier had already written a song about our time at Indietracks, called Every Year Until We Die.
Dogstar misspelled our name, but that's okay!
Ian Evans from Horowitz sampled a cupcake!
Then he went on to play a rocking set with this guy, Pete Bee, who claims to have been looking for the window latch in this picture. Horowitz, we love you!
Sloppy Joe from Japan have got such charm and sweetness about them and put on a great performance both at LW and Indietracks. Their Orange Juice cover is actually better than the original. We really hope they become big in the UK, cause they deserve it! (Hitsohi Oka in the photo)
Also, the Japanese fans knew how to fistpump and party like true librarians!
Berlin Brides from Athens were the headliners, and they were just so awesome we couldn't help going mad on the dancefloor. Girls with attitude, in the vein of Ladytron and CSS. Not twee at all, and that's another reason to love them! (Photo by Kiyan Ho)
We grabbed hold of one of The Boys Who Couldn't Stop Dreaming, they DJed at Indietracks and are running an indiepop club night in Athens!
Our lovely guest DJs Satomi Rhythmwaves and Sumire Twee! (Twee Grrrls Club, Japan)
And finally we went on summer holiday, DJing at the Cosy Den festival in Stockholm. It was like being in some kind of wonderland. And there was swimming in lakes (one person might have gone skinnydipping) and pop music, and people asking 'Spela Shoreline!' and dancing like mad to anything Jens Lekman related; or T.O.Y.S.
With Cosy Den organiser Mattias Jansson (L) in the Swedish sunset.
We love hanging out with, and listening to Haiku Salut, and they were representing the UK at Cosy Den, so brilliantly!
And with a photo of some good-looking Swedes we say goodbye for this time, the Moustache of Insanity album launch deserves its own blog post entirely!
