WOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH shit.
We’re now halfway through our Midnight Believer album launch tour. We are also all the way through the available funds to undertake it. Yay! Still, we’re having super ultra fun times. How about that Brisbane eh? We spent 3 days being squired about town by one Nick Smethurst, he of the most excellent hair and pedal collect (he doesn’t actually collect hair.) Still yet to find a decent meal in Brisbane and while The Forest may provide edible sustenance, it does not in my book constitute well executed food. What can I say, Vegans, MEH.
Top Floor on the other hand does constitute a well executed venue thingy; BYO booze, reasonable PA for room size, big backstage room and nice people running the joint. Though why we had to mop the floor at the end of the night I do not know, we did pay for the place after all. Not that I mopped or cleaned up in any way, unless you count cleaning up all remaining booze and screaming petulantly for McDonalds CheeeezzzzBURGERS on the way home. Which I didn’t get, but which Brain Cobra and Black Wasp DID!
Lion Island are great as are Big Strong Brute, though their name is very misleading.
Mixylodian seemed to be the most well received of the two sets this evening, people were up and dancing straight away and Mike was having a really great time, what with his shirt off and cape a-flowing.
The Ramps set was very fun, with equipment flying about the stage in all directions, old songs being thrown into the set without warning and probably the best mid song bump and grind with random audience members yet.(thanks Moonie!)
All in all a very fun weekend, though my enduring image of Brisbane for a while is going to be this:

So it’s on to Hobart and Belgrave next weekend. Yow!

Aleks and the Ramps are shocked to learn of the sudden death of Michael Jackson, King of Pop. He was a true musical father to us - ‘Boy Meets Ghost’ is loosely based on ‘Billy Jean’, and our entire first record was inspired by Jackson’s hit ‘They Don’t Really Care About Us’.

To mark this sad day, we decided to leave Black Wasp at home in Melbourne while the rest of us flew to Brisbane to hang out with Farrah Fawcett.

Vale.

Brain Cobra and yours truly both got magically sick during/after Newcastle and Sydney shows. I’m presently under quarantine. I sure do hope they let me out of jail before our Brisbane show!

hahahah apotenitala falcon you have bene punk’d hahaa nah not rly just stolye ur title hkekekekeke

I have now been edumacation.

Midnight Believer is out now. Finally! We were about to consider our options for a Caesarian.

To celebrate, Mess+Noise have gone fully ape poo about us for a limited time only. In addition to Presents…ing our tour, they’ve published a track-by-track guide to the album by Brain Cobra. And for today only, you can stream every single freakin’ song on the record right there on that page.

Also to celebrate, we’ve been busying ourselves with various other pursuits! Denim Owl has been sleeping over every Thursday night at the Edinburgh Castle in May, Wheeze has been playing with himself (haw haw haw hawwwww *snort*), I threw records and loops at Faux Pas (and vice versa) last night at Plug’n'Play, and Potential Falcon have been on tour promoting their new single (which they’ll finally launch in Melbourne tonight and Sunday). It’s kind of like the release of the album is a holiday from the work of actually making the album.

We’re also working hard at learning to play Mixylodian’s songs before he comes on tour with us. Actually, we’ve just been having breakfast with him and listening to his mp3s, and wondering how we’re going to master all the weedly-weedly and bloopy-buzzy.

Anyway - if you preorder Midnight Believer before Sunday, you can get a free double pass to our show at Triple R’s performance space on Monday night. Otherwise, listen to your radio or stream it from 6:30pm to hear us play live on Wig Wam Bam.

Tour news soon! Which reminds me… better buy some tickets. bites nails

Midnight Believer is to be appearing on the shelf of your local Recordings Shoppe next week (!), and I still can’t find my copy (hid it from myself; too efficient), but RRR, SYN and FBi have been kindly in the sense that they’re renaming it Album Of The Week. In an attempt to convince them (weakly, for I do not feel strongly) that our title was better, I bring you a tribute to BB King:

While I was recounting those timeless words, I wondered if BB King ever told anybody he was going to shoot them with his BB gun, and if so, whether it was sexy or threatening. Food for thought.

We will be playing live-to-air some time in the evening of June 1 2009 on Melbourne’s RRR. Also, we will be on TV in Melbourne on Thursday night. Chickpeas.

Single = launched. Album = next. Interviews = real soon. For coming = thank you.

We are back from a loverley couple of days visiting the far flung outposts of the Ramps empire. We’ve been baptised by Halal, how are you? Found God in No Art, distributed smells and belongings around the abode of Miss Leigh Tran, breakfasted with His Lordship Darren Hanlon(and his socks and thongs routine), forgot people we should damn well remember(sorry Tallulah), sweated a lot, witnessed(and presided over) the downfall of western civilisation and burnt a new passage from mouth to anus with Daves Insanity Hott Sauce. Busy huh!

We also started a twit-ter page herez: www.twitter.com/aleks_ramps I can’t imagine we’ll update it all that often, unless we are touring or something particularly hilarious happens. But zeitgeist’s don’t keep up with themselves….

We have proved to ourselves that we are indeed capable of playing our new single “Antique Limb” from start to middle and on to the end without defecating in our tight shiny pants from fear. I highly reccommend to any music types out there that you go and record a song, make it too hard to actually play and then release it as the flagship single from yr sophomore album. It’ll make you a better person, maybe even a better musician.

Dear Cheech and Chong, James Reyne and Leadfinger,

Please stop trying to thwart us in Brisbane. What did we ever do to you? Except that one thing, and we already resolved that in court.

LEADFINGER.

Thanks,
Aleks and the Ramps.

Ps. Antique Limb!