#biffy never really makes sense

[biscuits-of-bagend]

Andy Murray - The Flowers We'll Remember

I made this playlist halfway through the week, in between victories one and two. It tells me the story of Andy Murray's career as I experienced it, through songs that mean a lot to me, which is to say it might not make much sense to anyone else! So I've included some explanations below.

The title is related to a passage from the Ali Smith novel 'Summer'. It's about a summer day that told the gods it wanted to last forever, which the gods found hilarious.

Halfway Right by Linkin Park - 'I scream at myself when there's nobody left to fight', representing my earliest memories of Andy Murray, which involved a lot of him screaming at himself.

Hard Times by Paramore - Losing to Federer and Nadal and later Djokovic, but jauntily. A young man's losses.

The Heart Never Lies by McFly - 2012 Wimbledon final on-court interview 🥺

Love Forty Down by Frank Turner - I know he was 40-0 up at the end of the Wimbledon final, but functionally going from 40-0 to 40-Adv is basically the same thing 😂

Hold On by Twin Atlantic - back injuries :/ still sort of felt like it would all work out okay though, at least that was my understanding of it I think.

Don't Stop Me Now by Queen - Davis Cup at the end of 2015 through to World Tour Finals at the end of 2016. A euphoric period (ignore any losses to Djokovic in grand slam finals, we don't need to talk about those), but hard to look back on without thinking about what was coming.

Airfield by Enter Shikari - The Hip. Queens 2017 & 2017 Wimbledon QF to Australian Open 2019 'retirement'.

Wetsuit by The Vaccines - so get a hip operation, come on, come on

Get Better by Frank Turner - Bursting back to life/resurfacing in Cincinnati 2019. Also makes me think of 2019 'Resurfacing' documentary even though that didn't come out until later in the year.

Walk by the Foo Fighters - omg I've just realised I was thinking of the US Open 2020 not 2019... welp, timey wimey I guess, insert your preferred moment of watching Andy figure out how to play with his new hip

Mountains by Biffy Clyro - Antwerp 2019

Getting Old Sucks (But Everybody's Doing It) by Bowling For Soup - Pandemic through to 2023, including the post 4am fightback from two sets to love down against Thanasi Kokkinakis (see pics below). Getting old does suck, but Andy was really good at it.

Forever's Not Enough by McFly - "I want to play forever" (Wimbledon 2024)

26 by Paramore - a sad quiet song about hope, ie the only thing I was holding onto during the first half of that match against Nishikori and Daniel, which, lest we forget, was horrible

The Last Song by McFly - from 5 match points down through to breaking back in the second set against the Americans. Just pure fucking magic ✨ (thank you Dan!) ~~Epilogue section~~

Growing Up Beside You by Paolo Nutini - Andy Murray may be 11 years older than me, but so many of my memories of watching him play are tied to memories of times in my life. For example, I watched the 2016 World Tour Finals semi-final against Raonic in my student union, and vaguely remember trying not to show how stressed I was. I'm currently the age he was when he won Wimbledon the first time, so that's not terrifying at all...

The Way I Loved You (Taylor's Version) by Taylor Swift - I do really like Jannik Sinner but this could sort of be read as an indirect towards him? Although tbf watching post-puke Sinner power through tournaments has been its own kind of awesome. Honestly though, I don't think anyone will ever make me feel as much of a "rollercoaster kind of rush" on a tennis court as Andy Murray did anyway, not even the stress of watching Grigor Dimitrov try to hold a lead ❤️

Wouldn't Change a Thing - I really really wouldn't, and I hope Andy feels the same. Well, I mean, he'd probably choose not to have a hip injury, but you know what I mean 😆

[foiblepnoteworthy]

∞? please?

(full disclosure my music app is full of comedians, instrumentals and albums I swear I will listen to someday so I had to skip a few to get to a song I could actually talk about)

Okay so the first song I knew that came up was The Thaw by Biffy Clyro from the album Opposites (which is my favourite aside from all the other albums which are also my favourite).

Fav bit from the song was 'You could have taken it all/But you should have asked/I would give you my tongue/Or my dying breath'

Biffy has a habit of nonsense poetry and violent lyrics and this habit makes the use of that language feel genuine to me, so I believe him when he offers his tongue and his breath.

The offer of a dying breath is beautiful to me - it's something harsh and delicate and precious. And then there's this vague context of this person stealing from the singer (and lying throughout the song) and he doesn't even care.

[weshallc]

This is so exciting, can’t wait to see what happens next! (No, I honestly do forget)

Berns Night (Revisited) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Call the Midwife AU (Crown Jewels, everyone but Paddy and Bernie at Mount Busby)

Chapter Three: OF MICE AND MEN

“The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men. Gang aft agley. An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain. For promis’d joy!”  To A Mouse by Robert Burns 1785.

“Liars and Lovers Combine Tonight, We’re Gonna Make A Scene.” The Captain by Biffy Clyro 2009.

The largest reception room at Mount Busby Farm would have once been very grand, with Queen Anne furniture and Regency coffee tables. The only thing that remained unchanged was that the original fireplace still gave up warmth and light provided by nature, and the windows let in the light from the same star constellations and the same moon.

The Two Loves preferred antique furniture of a later period and in their 80s comfort was paramount. The room was stocked with love seats, chesterfields, recliners. bean bags, generous cushions, and a rather charming gold settee that suspiciously looked pre-war. Just no one was sure which war. Everyone mocked it, but everyone fought to sit on it as it was very comfy. Patsy often talked about replacing it, but Delia wouldn’t hear of it. “You don’t throw your memories out with the rubbish and there are more memories than just ours hidden within these cushions, Cariad.” That was always the end of it.

The most current occupants of that particular settee to be making memories were Tim Turner and Lucille Anderson. Phyllis looked over at the awkward teen, who was no longer as awkward as he had once been. He sat comfortably chatting to his companion, both of them laughing at intervals. Lucille often finishing Tim’s sentences or him proclaiming, yep that’s it or knew you’d get it when they appeared to reach a level of understanding.  Of course, when she asked the student nurse about her new friendship, she would just reply, brushing the older nurse off. “Oh, he is a dear boy; He makes me laugh.”

He was certainly doing that from where Matron Crane was sitting on a leather tan Whitworth dining chair, probably by Frank Hudson.  Years of heavy lifting before the introduction of patient hoists and transfer boards had taken their toll on the matron’s back. It was why she had found herself in a more managerial role much earlier than she would have planned. She looked at Student Nurse Anderson and thought maybe the NHS was in more tender capable hands than the shitstirrers would have them believe.

“I am wondering if we should start,” youth minister Tom Hereward was on his feet. “I am not sure how long baby will sleep in a strange house.”

“I have been called many things in my time, but not sure strange is one of them,” laughed Delia.

“Oh, I have Deals, it’s fine,” reassured Patsy.

Tom turned pink. Trixie leaned over to him, “They are joking,” and sat back onto the giant purple pouffe she was sharing with Valerie. “I know, I live here. I have to put up with it all the time.”

“So. Erm who is in charge, who has the most authority here.” Tom was still trying to create some sense of order.

“Well, Julia is the vicar,” chirped in Bobby, trying to offer her husband some support.

“But this is not the church,” Rev Julia responded with a warm smile.

“Another shock there then, it’s all coming out tonight, Patsy.” Delia couldn’t help herself when she had an audience and a bottle of Prosecco was being passed round.

“Matron Crane is on the council,” Lucille reminded everyone.

“No, I don’t think that matters lass, it’s not a council matter.” Phyllis shook her head.

“Well, someone needs to take the lead,” Tom said with a hint of irritation.

“I will!  On the authority that I am a young woman on her only night off of the week,” struck up Val, “but I have agreed to come here and discuss plans for Bernie’s birthday instead of having two for one sex on the beach.”

“It’s a cocktail, and its happy hour in the Fourteen Teacups on a Tuesday,” Trixie interpreted for everyone.

“That’s ambitious having a happy hour in the Teacups, isn’t it?”  said Fred, who had managed to wedge himself into a deep red Chesterfield.

“Yeah, apparently Ursula gives you the right change, that’s why they call it happy hour,” Tim smirked.

“As I am representing the Crown. I will continue,” said Val and she did, “we want to put on a Burns Night for Bernie’s birthday like in the old days. Now Tim has told us Paddy is half Scottish.”

“Why isn’t he here?” asked Bobby.

“Well, he said it would look suspicious if he left Bernie on her tod behind the bar on a Tuesday night,” Vi explained sitting on a scarlet love seat next to Fred.

“Yep, in case our two Tuesday night regulars rush the bar at once,” snorted Val.

“I think it’s more that it would look suspicious if he actually just left Bernie alone for five minutes,” Trixie corrected.

Lucille felt Tim squirm in the seat beside her. She knew he thought the world of Bernie, but didn’t like to hear her relationship with his father discussed in public. This was inevitable being a small village with one pub, one church and two of the village's most popular inhabitants linked to both. She tried to ease his tension.

“I think it’s lovely, just shows as my grandma used to say there may be snow on the roof, but there is still fire in the grate.”

As everyone surrendered to laughter, Matron shared a smile with the vicar, both of them confirming Lucille might be familiar with the saying, but maybe not its meaning.

Delia was the first to keep a straight face, “But they are only bairns, wait until they are mine and Pats age then the fire may need a little bit of stoking.”

“Yes, Deals, but remember we have never required the use of a poker.”

Val swiftly continued, “Paddy doesn’t wish to be involved.”

“Why?” Reggie asked, perched on his wooden stool.

Val motioned towards Tim, who was still recovering from the last topic of conversation.

“Because it would look ridiculous, his words not mine.” Tim continued, “and I quote, Wilf had the works, I would look like I was trying to pull a stunt to impress Bernie by looking like I was dressing in drag and taking the piss.”

Tim looked at his knees, and Lucille gave one a quick squeeze. She knew this wasn’t easy for him.

Everyone else also looked at their knees. The mood was solemn.

“We can all understand Paddy’s reasons.” There were a couple of nods and sighs in response. “But we aren’t putting up with any of that nonsense,” Val added with a grin.

This was met with a very large and unanimous cheer.

“Well, I’ve already looked up the Turner tartan,” Trixie handed an iPad over to Patsy via Val.

“That’s very smart,” approved the artist.

“Sorry I hate to throw a spanner in the works, but how are we going to afford all this?” butt in a pensive Vi.

“We’ve already thought of that,” grinned Delia, ”Mount Busby will cover the cost of the costume.”

“That’s very generous,” sniffed Evie, who had nearly dozed off in a leather recliner.

“Not really,” explained Patsy. “I have a friend that works for Kilts 4 U and they are very interested in looking into the possibility of making an alpaca lined sporran.”

This was news to Reggie who followed anything relating to his charges with great interest, “What’s a sporran?”

“It’s where he keeps his spare change,” Fred enlightened, or at least tried to.

“It’s the little purse that men wear at the front of the kilt, Reggie,” Violet elaborated. He seemed reassured by this.

“So anyway, in return for a few samples,” Patsy continued, “my friend will be happy to hire out the full regalia for the evening.”

“It’s not long now until Burns Night have you got some sort of prototype ready?” quizzed Evie.

“Lady K is working on them as we speak. She loves nothing better than fiddling with a bit of alpaca wool,” Delia replied gleefully.

“Lady K?” Phyllis queried.

“Yes, she is very creative,” reassured Trixie.

“I don’t doubt it, Trixie, but she is one of Bernie’s clients. What if the lass sees what she is up too”

“Don’t fret Phyllis,” Patsy interjected, “I find that Antonia is much less forgetful when she has an occupation to challenge her and I am certain she won’t let the cat out of its proverbial bag.”

Jack sat on the floor accidently banged his head against the fire surround he was leaning against, “Can’t imagine Berns thinking; oh look Lady K is sticking bits of alpaca wool to a man’s bag he hangs in front of his todger. That must be something to do with Paddy and my birthday”

Vi was quick to admonish Jack, but when even Tom started to laugh, she decided to let it go.

“What about the little knifey thing they keep in their sock that he stabs the Haggis with?” Fred was beginning to get excited.

“Sgian dubh,” corrected Vi.

“All part of the traditional dress,” Patsy added a tone to her voice to reassure everyone that she had thought of everything.

“So that’s the gear sorted. Me and Reggie are in charge of the beer. What else?” Fred’s eyes were wide, thinking they actually might be able to pull this off.

“Well, myself and Evie have created a menu, pretty much on the lines of what we used to do in Wilf’s day.” Violet opened a small notebook and put on her reading glasses.

Clearing her throat she read, “Cock-a-leekie soup, Scottish salmon and tattie scones or scotch egg for starters.”

“Cock a what?” shouted up Jack.

“Chicken and vegetable soup to you, young man. There will be a just vegetable option too.” Violet’s voice began to take on the air it adopted when addressing an audience. “Then we have the Haggis or vegan Haggis, neeps and tatties and a whisky sauce.”

“What about those that might not wish to partake in the Haggis?” Tom asked nervously, as he might.

Evie spoke up before Vi could respond. “There is always the Fourteen Teacups for the likes of those that don’t wish to have Haggis. It’s a Burns Night. If you don’t want Haggis, then stay at home and order in a pizza.”

“What’s for pudding?” Bobby struck up, squeezing her husband’s hand.

“Cranachan which is raspberries, cream, oats and whisky, or Clootie pudding with whisky sauce or whisky ice cream or a Scottish cheese board with oatcakes.”

Murmurs of approval were aimed in Violet’s direction.

“That’s a lot of whisky?” Lucille remarked.

Violet agreed, “Yes, we need just a house whisky for everyone for the toasts Val, I will leave that to you, but you need to pay the piper with a good quality malt.”

Silence broke out in the previously buzzing, over occupied living room.

“Piper!” Several people groaned at once.  

Fred, who was not going to let anything get in the way of this Burn’s Night declared, “Look, we will just have to bung on a recording.” Turning to Tim and Jack, he said, “You lads look up the Red Hot Chilli Pipers on your phones.”

Tim reached for his phone, swiping the picture of Lucille and him with Alpaca Colin. But Lucille touched his hand, making him hesitate.

“I don’t think that would be very suitable, Mr Buckle going to all this trouble with such a delicious menu and Mr Turner all dressed up in the finest regalia and then having some squeaky din coming out of an iPhone.”

“Your right lass, it just won’t do,” supported Phyllis.

“Well, does anyone know a piper?” Fred replied wearily.

“Surely we can find a professional one online?” contributed Julia

“A professional piper that’s free on Burn’s Night at this late notice,” chided Phyllis.

“I know a piper.”

The voice came from the back of the room. Everyone turned to look at the slight dark-haired woman sat on a dining chair. “Well, I think we all do.”

“Do we, Jane?” Julia asked.

“Yes, the busker that stands outside the town hall in Appleby Thornton.”

Everyone started talking at once;

“I only go into town every second Tuesday to get my hair done.”

“Same here I only go through if I have a doctor’s appointment.”

“Well, it’s the cost of the parking isn’t it, it’s free at Tweaven Retail Park and more shops.”

“You can get it on t’internet delivered to your door.”

“I haven’t been since Marks and Spencers closed.”

“Debenhams is closing next week such a shame, that shops older than me, always been a department store in Appleby Thornton.”

“It was one of the first in the country to have a lift, you know.”

Jane cleared her throat. “There are a lot of good things about Appleby Thornton that are not always obvious.”

“Here, here!” chimed in Val, “there is still a Primark.”

“Oh well, let’s be grateful for small mercies,” stung back Trixie.

Much to Delia’s disappointment, Val bit her lip. The ex-nurse and market gardener loved a full house. She cherished her quiet times with Patsy too, but she was the more sociable of the pair. The farm was large enough for Patsy to have her office and art studio and not be disturbed while Delia fussed the alpacas with Reggie. Trixie moving in had been Patsy’s scheme, but Delia was the one who had benefited most from their new project, even if she would never let their new employee know she was a project.

Delia enjoyed listening to Trixie’s anecdotes and gossip. She felt reconnected with a world that was moving so fast. The Two Loves were business women and technology hadn’t passed them by.  It was the music, the celebrities, the trashy telly that Patsy despised and Delia loved that made having Trixie and her friends around delight Delia.

Delia’s carer probably wasn’t as up-to-date with pop culture as Trixie and her friend. Val was now a frequent visitor to Mount Busby, as she and their new lodger had struck up quite a friendship. Nurse Bernie always looked a bit behind the door when the other two were in full flow about some reality TV show.

But since Trixie had moved in, Nurse made Delia’s blood pressure check the last visit on her rounds and she drank tea, sitting and chatting with Trixie. Bernie didn’t need to watch Love Island. She had her own romantic paradise in Poplar-on-Tweaven and Delia couldn’t be more happy for her.

Val had bitten her lip, her new friend was still a bit of an enigma to her. She did know Trixie might talk as if she had been born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but in the last few months she had gleaned enough to know that spoon had been tarnished sometime ago. So in spite of all her bravado, Trixie was as familiar with Poundland as she was with Prada.

It was Julia who cut through the chatter. “I believe I am familiar with the young man you are referring to. He has a small dog with him if I am right?”

“Yes, Reverend.” Jane was beginning to believe she had dreamt the piper and maybe also Appleby Thornton.

“He’s rather good, as I remember.”

Jane was beaming as she nodded.

“So problem solved,” Fred rubbed his hands together with glee, “tot of whisky, a bowl of water for the pooch, bob’s your uncle, sorted”

“No, it certainly is not.” Trixie’s tone caused everyone to alter their gaze, “this man is a professional musician surely, if he has a regular spot he has a license. I am sure Chummy is well acquainted with the gentleman and his story. We can ask her.”

Inspector Noakes had been unable to attend the meeting because of work commitments, and Peter’s Tuesday evenings were spent running a youth football team that Jack and Timothy had both enjoyed being a part of. Alas, Tim had become too rangy and prone to injury, and Jack had become too lazy and prone to chips.

Trixie continued, “He deserves an appropriate wage for his efforts.” She turned to Val. “I believe the Crown has an entertainments licence.”

Val nodded and smiled reassuringly at her friend, “Paddy does, leave it with me and I will also make sure he and the mut are fed and provided with transport both ways.”

Trixie relaxed and shared a smile with the aromatherapist sitting at the back of the room. “Do you know his name?”

“Kevin.”

Fred let out a huge sigh. “So we are all sorted then?”

“It would appear so,” replied Lucille, grimacing at Tim.

“Apart from Dad.” groaned Tim.

Followed by an echo of sighs.

“Leave your dad to me, Chick.” winked Val.

[starcrossedjedis]

all ship questions for the otp you're currently vibing with most! xo

Oof thank you <3

Gotta go with Sirius and Moira then (also in LOVE with Nora and George, but they aren’t as planned out as Nora’s parents sooo^^)

PRE-RELATIONSHIP

1. How did they first meet?

They met on their first night at Hogwarts after both being sorted into Gryffindor.

2 What was their first impression of each other?

Sirius probably didn’t even notice her, because he was so excited to have been sorted in the same house as James AND in Gryffindor no less. Moira wasn’t impressed with his boisterous ways at all. By the time he notices Moira he’s probably just wodering what her problem with him is, because she loathes him^^

3. Did any of their friends or family want them to get together?

Seeing that Sirius’s family don’t care if he lives or dies, they probably didn’t care about his relationship status. Moira’s parents kept out of that part of their daughter’s life, as they found that this wasn’t their business so long as she didn’t turn up with a Death Eater or sth. All of their friends minus Peter really want them together though - especially Lily dreams of double dates in Hogmaede, but no such luck xD

4. Who felt romantic feelings first?

Romantic is probably overstating things and for the longest time Moira would probably have hexed anyone who as much as suggested it, but she definitely had a crush on Sirius first. He made the first ever step though then took two steps back.

5. Did either of them try to resist their feelings?

Hah! Ain’t that the whole plot to this story? First Moira would rather drop dead than admit she could be feeling anything but righteous loathing for Sirius. Then her and Sirius kiss, but he learns that Peter likes her and steps back for fear of destroying the Marauders by acting on his feelings and thus hurting a friend. And then when he finally gets his act together when they are both in the Order of the Phoenix, she has just started going out with Gideon Prewett and feels obligated to see where this relationship goes and not drop him at the first sign of affection from a guy who’s broken her heart before.

6. If you had told one of them that the other would be their soulmate, what would they think?

During their Hogwarts days they would have either laughed in your face or hexed you into the next millenium for even suggesting this. Once they’re together, maybe even before that, there is no doubt.

GENERAL

1. Who initiated the relationship, and how did it go?

Well, the first kiss just kinda... happens, I guess? Then Moira kinda... dares Sirius to make a move, but he doesn’t? And then down the road he practically begs her to dump Gideon to be with him, but she shoots him down, just to appear on his doorstep on the very same night, because she did dump Gideon to be with him and... I guess it kinda depends on how you define “initiate” xD

2. Did they have an official first date? If so, what was it like?

They didn’t have a first date. By the time they are both on the same page, they pretty much just jump straight to the “established relationship” part and due to circumstances they mostly divide their time between missions for the Order, time spent with their loved ones and hiding out at home for some much needed alone time. 

3. What was their first kiss like?

Unexpected? xD But enough to leave both of them like “oh.” (you know. Oh.)

4. Were they each other’s first anything (kiss, relationship, etc.)?

Sirius was Moira’s first kiss. Due to mutual dumbassery this is the only shared first in a long line of firsts. One could also argue that she is his first and only real relationship.

5. What’s their height difference? Age difference?

Moira’s birthday is March 21st 1960, which makes her just a little bit younger than Sirius. They are in the same year at Hogwarts. Their height difference is a bit more significant than that, with Sirius being around 6′1 (taken from yours truly Ben Barnes’s stats^^) and Moira coming in at 5′6. It’s not drastic, but enough that she has to stand on tippy toes to kiss him and for her to fit perfectly under his arm <3 

6. What’s their relationship with each other’s families?

Moira - understandably - doesn’t have a relationship with Sirius’s family. Her parents like Sirius, but that probably takes a nose dive once he gets framed for the betrayal of James and Lily Potter.

7. Who takes the lead in social situations?

Probably Sirius, mostly due to the fact that they largely have the same friends and the Marauders... let’s say they know how to fill a room.

8. Who gets jealous easier?

Definitely Sirius. He pretty much throws a fit when Peter invites Moira to Hogsmaede and she accepts. And when she starts going out with Gideon Prewett after school, he takes it hard. Very hard.

LOVE

1. Who said “I love you” first?

Moira, on the night she comes to his door after breaking things off with Gideon.

2. What are their primary love languages?

Before they’re together, it’s mostly covert glances when the other isn’t looking. And shouting, probably. When they’re together, it’s small things like smiles and casual touches. They also hold hands pretty much wherever they are and James teases Sirius mercilessly about it.

3. How often do they cuddle/engage in PDA?

See the answer above ^^’ They’re not Percy/Penelope level disgusting about it, but no one who sees them is ever gonna doubt those idiots are in love.

4. What are their favorite things to do together?

Pretty boring, but with the war, the missions for the Order and all they mostly enjoy spending quiet time alone together. They love to sit in front of a fireplace together and either read (on occasion to each other) or just talk and... cuddle until the fire goes out.

5. Who’s better at comforting the other?

Moira has a very soft and caring side, which is probably one of the qualities that attract Sirius to her.

6. Who’s more protective?

Sirius. That man is an actual guard dog, so... It’s also the reason people are so quick to believe that he betrayed the Potters, because it made sense to them that there truly was nothing he wouldn’t have done to protect his wife and daughter. 

7. Do they prefer verbal or physical affection?

They actually have a terrible track record when it comes to talking things out. They are much, much better where they allow their bodies to do the talking - that doesn’t just mean sex though. They can say so much to each other with just a look or a soft squeeze of a hand.

8. What are some songs that apply to their relationship, in-universe or otherwise?

It’s “Space” by Biffy Clyro. That’s it. That’s their song and I cannot listen to it without thinking about them <3

9. What kind of nicknames do they call each other?

They don’t really do nicknames, but until they got married they were big on the whole “calling each other exclusively by their last names, only using their first names when shit’s getting realTM”. That being said, Sirius had a habit of calling her “Freckles” just to piss her off (she almost broke his nose with a bludger during Quidditch try outs after he hollered “Nice one, Freckles!” from the stands). He might occasionally revisits this nickname to tease her.

DOMESTIC LIFE

1. If they get married, who proposes?

Sirius proposes. I already know how he proposes, but I love it so, so much that I don’t just wanna give it away in a post like this T_T

2. What’s the wedding like? Who attends?

It’s small. Really small. Like “the two and the one who officiates’ small.

3. How many kids do they have, if any? What are they like?

They have a daughter named Evanora, short “Nora”. She is the spitting image of her father, but has her maternal grandfather’s dark eyes (much to her chagrin, because both her parents have light eyes that she thinks are so much prettier). Nora is kind and fun and - considering her upbringing - surprisingly open. She is the world’s worst liar, a little bit clumsy and at times awkward. The dark cloud that was her father’s absence and supposed crimes cast a shadow over most of her childhood, no matter how hard her mother tried to shield her from it. This is probably the reason she is so fascinated by the light hearted Weasley twins.

4. Do they have any pets?

They have a Red Tabby named Posy after Nora’s favourite character from “Ballet Shoes”, who is actually descended from Moira’s cat Dot.

5. Who’s the stricter parent?

Moira, simply because she has been a single mother for most of Nora’s life =‘(

6. Who kills the bugs in the house?

Moira and Nora have a strict “No killing bugs” rule and Sirius would never dare and go against it. Bugs get evicted from the Black household via levitation xD

7. How do they celebrate holidays?

So far there were only two times that they celebrated Christmas together and there’s about thirteen years between the two, so it’s a little early to speak of traditions they made for themselves. But before Sirius comes back, Moira and Nora usually go to church with the muggle side of Moira’s family (who are for the most part blissfully unaware that Moira and Nora basically live in voluntary exile from the wizarding world) on Christmas Eve. They have a big dinner with Moira’s parents and exchange of gifts on Christmas Day. Moira and Nora then usually spend Boxing Day at home, wearing pyjamas all day, eating leftovers, baking tons of Christmas biscuits and eating them in front of the fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate. Sirius will probably try to find a way to fit into the traditions his girls made for themselves in his absence, while they try to adjust to his needs (like the need to be with his godson over the holidays) and in time there will probably be new traditions they make together,

8. Who’s more likely to convince the other to come back to sleep in the morning? 

Sirius could spend all day cuddled up in bed. And he doesn’t play fair to get his way.

9. Who’s the better cook?

Moira and not only because she has over a decade on Sirius in that regard, she’s always been the better cook. But they love to be in the kitchen together.

[lizziestudieshistory]

Books of 2019 - the final instalment

December books! (It’s a lot, and I had some thoughts... Apologies for not proof reading...again)

The Liveship Traders Series by Robin Hobb (Ship of Magic, The Mad Ship, Ship of Destiny)

This is my favourite trilogy by Robin Hobb (although my favourite book isn’t in this series) and I cannot recommend it enough. The plot is much more active in this book, and we get more action a lot more quickly than we do in the Farseer trilogy. It’s action packed (well it would be with pirates) and plays to Hobb’s strenghts by telling the plot from multiple third person POVs. This enables Hobb to cut out her tendency to go off on long tangents (as she does with the Fitz books) and keep the reader engaged with all her character’s adventures. 

The magic in the series is so much fun, with the Liveships taking centre stage throughout the three books. Liveships are ships that, once three generations of a family die onboard, the figure head comes alive and can fuide the family though journeys using the memories of its previous owners. The first Liveship we meet is Vivacia, the Vestrit family ship, however, we meet several Liveships with my favourtie being the Ophelia (a secondary liveship character who is far too brilliant and we were robbed by not having more of her!) 

However, where this series shines is in the characters themselves, particularly the women of the Vestrit family (Ronica, Althea, and Malta, even Keffria by books 2/3). My favourite character (and character development) from the series is Malta, the bratty teenaged girl who becomes such a strong women WITHOUT LOSING WHAT MAKES HER MALTA. Hobb does a brilliant job of writing real women who are strong female characters, without losing their humanity. They’re all distinct personalities, with trials of their own, but still come together to support each other (even Malta and Althea in the end) and act like a family. I’ve never read such a good representation of women and domestic life in a fantasy series and it really makes this series brilliant. I’d recommend reading these books just for the Vestrits... They really are that good!

Romancing the Werewolf (and The Curious Case of the Werewolf that Wasn’t) by Gail Carrgier

Lots of fluffy Christmas romance between Biffy and Lyle from the Parasolverse. This wasn’t one of my favourite novellas by Carriger, but I love Biffy and Lyle (along with everyone) and I was happy to see them get together properly AT LAST!

The Curious Case was an odd short story and it’s my least favourite thing I’ve read by Carriger so far. I just can’t stand Alessandro Tarabotti, and I would have been very happy not reading anything from his persective. However, I did provide some interesting backstory to the events in the Parasol Protectorate, plus it was a nice little bonus in the back of Romancing the Werewolf.

Meat Cute by Gail Carriger

Finally the Hedgehog Incident is explained! This was so much FUN, and we got a nice glimpse to the start of Alexia and Connal’s romance, as well as a little cameo from some Finishin School characters we know and love ;)

The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett

This is Pratchett’s Christmas novel, so it wasthe right time of year to read it at last! I really enjoyed experienceing the Hogfather on the page - I’d only ever seen the Sky adaptation of it beforehand. It was an absolute pleasure and I really grew to love Susan (who might be my favoruite Discworld heroine at this point!)

It’s a must read for any Discworld fan, however, I’d really recommend it as a starting point for people wanting to read Discworld. It’s part of the Death and Susan subseries, but it’s a viable standalone book as well - it’s also an excellent Christmas fantasy story!

The Return of the King by J.R.R Tolkien

We all know my absolute adoration of Tolkien by now. I cannot recommend this series more and I will continue to reread these books until my dying day. 

Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson

This is Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive novella following Lift’s character development between Words of Radiance and Oathbringer. It made Lift’s sections in Oathbringer make a lot more sense, but was also a wonderful exploration of who she is as a character and how she reflects the Order of Edgedancers (especially as she seems an odd choice for the order.) I really enjoyed this book and it’s given me a whole new perspective on Lift’s character - so much so that she is now a bareable character!

My only issue with this story was how short it was! For Sanderson it’s tiny, bordering on short story rather than novella when we take into consideration the size of the Stormlight books! I would have loved a more detailed and elaborate story, but I did really enjoy the character work we got in this one (and seeing a different part of Roshar!) I’d highly recommend it for all Stormlight readers, although it isn’t necessary for our main (at least in the front 5) character’s or the story.

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

This was a sad and bitter diasppointment. I was looking forward to it (as my uni buddy read book) but it was such a slog to ge through. The first few chapters were interesting enough, but the story stayed at one note - it was just depressing.

Barker set out to retell the Fall of Troy from the perspective of the Trojan women who were enslaved by the Greeks throughout the war. Our main character was Breseis (sp? I’m not sure), who was a Trojan queen who was enslaved and given to Achilles as a prize when her city feel to the Greeks towards the end of the war. From her we were supposed to get a sympathetic account of the horroes of war these women faced and the consequences of losing had on their lives.

However, the main character was really Achilles, he and Patroclus were the only interesting characters throughout the entire novel, and Barker had nothing new to add to the story by supposedly telling the story through the perspective of these women. I was bored once Briseis was in the Greek camp and my interest was only really teased when we had the chapter about Helen of Troy and then read from Achilles’ perspective in the second half (major fail, considering the aim of the book was to tell the WOMEN’S STORY)

Barker also decided to write the story using modern British slang, which was supposedly meant to give it a timeless feel to match the mythology being retold. Instead, I found the writing was constantly pulling me out of the story and made it a chore to read (especially when compared with the one tone depression it induced everytime I picked it up.) Most of the time I was left bored and slightly disgusted with nothing to provide any relief (either through likeable characters or interest in plot.)

Overall, it was such a dissapointment, I was hoping to love this book and for it to provide a new perspective on my favourite myth. Instead I grew fatigued with the book and in the end spent an afternoon powering through the story to get it over with because I was so done with the whole book - it was a really depressing end to the reading year. 

[manifestoonmoralmanlove]

Gormless Ch. 13 – Everything’s awful but lesbians are in fact REAL

A well-meaning friend gave me a book series that is hilariously bad. The first book was Souless and my riffs were entitled brainless. This second book is entitled Changless and these riff are then gormless.

I mean to say I have entitled them gormless! Not that my riffs are dumb, and the effort I spend on them stupid since I’m the only one who enjoys them. HAHA!

The story is SUPPOSED TO be about how a badass lady wearing a rad-looking carriage dress hits baddies with her umbrella and bangs her hot werewolf husband.  In reality it’s mostly poor attempts at being witty, flirty, and superior.

For the last book check out the brainless tag.

If you want the TL;DR version but want to read these new riffs anyway?

This story is set in supernatural Victorian steampunk England.  Alexia is our NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS protag.  She is a soulless, which means she’s able to negate the abilities of vampires and werewolves by touching them. She’s recently married a big oaf, named Lord Connel Maccon.  He’s the manchild in charge of the supernatural police with a zillion dollars and he’s totes super hot too ok.  Their relationship is mostly arguments about how Maccon can’t tell her fucking anything.  Alexia has also recently become head of ~Soulless affairs~ in Queen Victoria’s government.  She has a dumb friend named Ivy, a gay vampire friend named Akeldama, a family who’s evil because they do the same shit as her but while being blonde, and most importantly Alexia is better than everyone cause…cause.

Last time on Gormless:

Turns out a preserved corpse of a Soulless person that the Kingair pack stole from Egypt is causing the humanization problem.  However somebody is after that coprse, and knocked LeFoux and Lord Maccon unconscious.  Alexia gonna have to fix everything herself HURMPH!

Chapter 13 – Everything’s awful but lesbians are in fact REAL

Wowzers! Here’s the climax chapter.  It won’t be the height of tension, but it will be the height of my irritated confusion.  My apologies for length, it was a long chapter, and full of a lot of bullshit. LET’S GO!

              We get a rare good moment where Alexia looks at the passed out Maccon and worries about him.  She makes a cute note about how his eyelashes are super long and once when she commented that she was jealous of his long eyelashes he tickled her neck with them.  This will be the last genuinely good thing in this chapter.

Alexia goes to a recently woken up LeFoux.  LeFoux is all distraught, and there’s a bullshit line about how being upset made her look slightly more feminine and Alexia, “Didn’t know if she liked that.”

              CAUSE SADNESS IS A WOMAN DISEASE AND ALEXIA ONLY CARES WHAT LEVEL OF CURRENT FUCKIBLITY YOU ARE! THE LEVEL OF EGOMANIA ON THIS BITCH!

              LeFoux is like, “Hey don’t be mad at the woman who shot me and your husband. She didn’t ~mean~ it.”

YES TURNS OUT THE BIG BAD OF THIS BOOK SERIES I FUCKING CALLED BACK IN CHAPTER 4 OF THE LAST BOOK!  It was Angelique! GOSH WHAT A FUCKING TWIST! YOU KNOW THE CHARACTER WHO, AT THE END OF THE LAST BOOK WAS DESCRIBED IN TEXT AS A BLATANT SPY! Yet the entirety of this book Alexia thinks its LeFoux and goes so far as to think she’s faking being shot? She turns out of the room and all the werewolves are sleeping and instead of…I DON’T KNOW letting them know she’s identified the attacker?  She just huffs that she must do everything herself.

GOD STUPIDITY AND A POINTLESS MARTYR COMPLEX IS REALLY FUCKING HOT! ALSO I’M GLAD THAT EVERY SINGLE WEREWOLF FELT COMFORTABLE FALLING ASLEEP WITH AN ACTIVE SHOOTER IN THEIR CASTLE THAT WAS EVEN ABLE TO PUT DOWN THEIR FORMER ALPHA!

So Alexia goes to the room where the mummy is, but Angelique is not there. So instead of disposing of the body that Angelique is clearly after, she’s runs up to the Aethongrapher room. Angelique is there and shoves her aside to escape the room. So they go back to the mummy room, and Angelique is trying to drag the body out of there.  Alexia goes to shoot some of her sleepy darts at Angelique but just as she’s about to Ivy shows up to stand in front of Alexia and whine that Alexia is being callous to her.  But as I have described before, this is not Ivy’s fault. Ivy’s kink is inconvenient timing. Blithering obtusely in front of a weapon while the bad guy gets away makes her CUM.  The TV hasn’t been invented yet so she can’t stand in front of it during a crucial part of a show/game.  SHE HAS TO FIND SOME WAY TO GET OFF!

DO YOU WANT THIS WOMAN TO NEVER ORGASM!?

Despite that Alexia is able to catch up to Angelique and knocks her unconscious with a hefty umbrella swing.  She takes the mummy outside, and dissolves it using the acid function on her umbrella.  I mean, I was hoping she’d go whole hog and it would come to life and fight them but WELP guess that would be stupid fun and we’re only allowed one of those things in this book and it ain’t fun.  When the corpse is just about pudding, Alexia goes back in and hears Ivy scream.

OH NO!

We take a break from this regularly scheduled programming to swap over to Biffy, Channing, and Lyall at the Westminster Hive.  Biffy apparently snuck in and broke their Aethonographer.  This is just to let us all know that the message Angelique tried to send before didn’t get through.  I mean targeting the Aethongrapher only, doesn’t make any sense AT ALL from their perspective and honestly you could have written the entire thing out to tighten up the story.  But like I guess it was real important to have that bit where Alexia has to try 2 rooms to find Angelique.

FUCK ME RUNNING!

So Ivy screamed because a woken up Angelique puts a knife to Ivy’s throat and is leading her up the stairs.  All the werewolves are there as well as Tunstell.  Tunstell gets out the magic gun, which by the way they start calling the ‘tun tun’ which makes a lot of sense and is totes keeping it tense. Shouldn’t it be the tun gun? WHATEVER!

They go up to a room and Angelique makes Ivy open a window.  Meanwhile Tunstell tries to sneak around the side while Alexia tries to distract her.  By the way this is the first time we hear that Tunstell is apparently a big dude. I had totally assumed that since he was described as a meek servant/actor coated in freckles that he was a 5’5” adorable waif boy who weighs 110 lbs on a good day.  I’m glad you waited till now to tell us that. After a bit of a scuffle Tunstell wrestles the knife away, saves Ivy, and Angelique tumbles to her death out the window.  The gun is never shot and Chekov leaps out to die on the cold hard Scottish earth like Angelique.

Apparently there was a rope ladder leading down that window that Angelique was really hoping she’d be able to escape down, with the knife to the throat of a hostage? OKAY THEN!  When Angelique woke up, why didn’t she just try to make a break for it, to avoid being persecuted by the supernatural police?  What was the point of the hostage thing? Why did she have this rope ladder prepared?

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST BOOK! IT’S NOT GOOD ACTION IF THE ENTIRETY OF IT FALLS APART LIKE A BISCUIT IN TEA WHEN YOU ASK LITERALLY ANY QUESTION REGARDING IT!

You know what would have been a thousand times better?  If Alexia goes to question a recently recovered Angelique, and Angelique in a panic puts a knife to a dipshit Ivy’s throat by a window. Angelique demands to be given the body. Alexia explains that she destroyed it.  Angelique at first doesn’t want to believe it but eventually concedes. Saying something along the lines of, “…If I can’t deliver the body…then…then they’ll kill me…”  The people there try to reassure her that they can protect her.  However in Angelique’s stunned grief she slips from the window, Tunstell is able to grab Ivy but not Angelique.  Was it an accident?  Did she want to die on her own terms?  WE’LL NEVER KNOW?  The chapter ends where the crowd goes to check on her and Angelique is FOR SURE dead. LeFoux seeing the shattered body of her former lover, clutches Alexia and wails.

BUT NOPE IN FACT THIS HAPPENS NEXT!

So Alexia is the only one to go check the body.  Angelique is in fact dead, but turns into a ghost. Angelique tells Alexia to perform the exorcism, which means kill her for real real. Alexia wants questions answered first. Angelique says she’ll answer 10, Alexia agrees to this.  

So like…why are you going to respect her wishes now? Doesn’t she need to be persecuted under the law, or have proof of the Hive’s wrongdoing?  You maybe want to give LeFoux a chance to talk to her, since she was obviously really upset and protective of her before? GUESS NOT!

Angelique, before the questioning is revealed to have done this whole task for the immortality, since she previously and is still working with the Westminster hive. She is GIVEN immortality in the form of being a ghost and is immediately like NOPE I’D RATHER DIE. HUHHHH? MAYBE IT’S NOT IDEAL VAMPIRE THING BUT REALLY?

GOD WHATEVER IT JUST GETS WORSE ANYWAY!

Angelique says that it wasn’t her who tried to break into her bag or poison her. Alexia asks if LeFoux is trying to kill her, Angelique says probably not cause you’d already be dead.  AND LIKE WE ESTABLISHED THIS EXACT ANSWER TO THIS SAME QUESTION BEFORE. WHY ARE YOU WASTING YOUR QUESTIONS YOU COMPLETE IMBECILE!

It’s revealed that Quensel, the kid LeFoux was taking poor care of before, is Angelique’s son.  Angelique was trying to hide the fact she had a son from the vampires cause the vampires won’t turn her if she has any family. Apparently LeFoux, was trying to get Angelique to take care of her son and to stop the vampire biz by threatening to tell the Vampires about her son.  That didn’t work apparently.  We also confirm that yes, SHOCK OF SHOCK, Angelique and LeFoux used to be an item for many years.  So we have this OH SO DELIGHTFUL paragraph:

“Alexia had seen something of the kind in her father’s collection, but she had never imagined it might be based on anything more than masculine wistfulness or performances put on to titillate a John’s palate.  That two women might do such things voluntarily with one another and do so with some degree of romantic love. Was that possible?”

(Irritated Stare with the phrase [stares in gay judgement])

You’re 26 years fucking old, you’re well aware that gay men exist, LeFoux has been hitting on her blatantly this entire book and has been pretty much screaming how much of a lesbian she is.  Like you can have Alexia in bi-denial, sure, but for her not to even realize two girls can have sex and romance at one another outside of men JACKING IT!? FUCKING WOW!   I want to be clear and say that there is a myth that Queen Victoria didn’t think lesbians were real when she was enforcing the no homosexuality laws. TO BE CLEAR THAT IS A MYTH! PEOPLE IN VICTORIAN TIMES KNEW LESBIANS WEREN’T JUST A MALE CREATED HORNY MYTH LIKE HOW WOMEN LOVE THE TASTE OF JIZZ, YOU THICK-HEADED TWIT!

The last questions that Alexia asks basically are, “Is it possible for women to love each other?” and “You’re a cold bitch aren’t you?”  QUEEN PICKED TOP INVESTIGATOR HERE!  She then FOR REAL kills Angelique.  Also I’m glad she didn’t ask Angelique what they were planning on doing with the humanization corpse, because that mystery is probably what the entirety of the 3rd book is about.

So we head back in the castle to try to wrap this all up, and boy is it pointlessly messy.  I’m going to recount the items in order, so you TOO can realize what a clusterfuck this is.

Alexia tells LeFoux that Angelique is dead which makes LeFoux cry.  Alexia has a normal human response to seeing a woman she likes grieving.

“Lady Maccon envied her skill of crying with aplomb.  She herself went all over splotchy, but Madame Lefoux seemed to be able to execute the emotional state with minimal fuss.”

By performing some pretty sweet mental gymnastics to make it about herself. CONGRATULATIONS!  She does later say that the scene was painfully sad…but…your first thought, and the one you dedicate more than a sentence to is… “I wish I could cry as hot as she could?” MOTHER OF FUCK LADY!

Maccon takes Alexia aside and explains that LeFoux and he are besties despite not interacting with her at all this entire book.  He told his BFF4EVAH to keep an eye on Alexia.  Don’t know why he would have lied about this?  Maybe Alexia would have felt patronized? Alexia was attacked 5 times last book and needed to be saved 3 of those times.  There’s nothing wrong with that ratio, but there’s also nothing wrong with wanting to have back up if you’re in a dangerous profession. Besides that the two both love science and gadgets, and if he couldn’t predict that LeFoux would awaken his wife’s bisexuality too, it seems silly to lie to her about it.  

But my pity for Alexia runs dry again when, upon hearing Maccon and LeFoux are buds…she accuses Maccon of sleeping with LeFoux. And it’s like…

(Honestly, you people, and by that I mean straight people…are ridiculous.)

If Alexia is bi, it don’t matter she’s still in denial and acting like a straight up straighty.

You just found out that lesbians are real and that LeFoux is one of them, and YOU were the one to almost cheat on him with her, and you ACCUSE HIM? Are you FOR REAL!?  I mean this is just a set up for Alexia to realize SOME MORE that lesbians are real. I’m glad I’m reading one of those books where everything needs to be explained 5 times.

Alexia brings up the fact that Angelique turned into a ghost but exorcised her right away without considering if literally anybody else wanted to talk to her INCLUDING THE LONG-TERM –EX-GIRLFRIEND WHO WAS RAISING HER KID.  LeFoux is rightly upset at this and Alexia retorts with

“There’s no need to wallow.”

Now even Lord Maccon steps in like, “THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, SHE’S RIGHTLY UPSET!”  To which Aleixa points out OH SO RIGHTLY that LeFoux didn’t want to be girlfriends with Angelique again, so like…it makes no sense why she’d want to have some parting words or care about her living or dying.

THEN THIS TRANSITION SHEESH VERBATIM:

Lord Maccon looked at his wife appreciatively. “Good Lord, woman, how could you have possibly known that?”

“Well” – Lady Maccon grinned – “Madame Lefoux here did play a bit of the coquette with me while we were traveling. I do not think she was entirely shamming.”

I’m sorry what?  We already established that LeFoux is a vagatrian and had a relationship with Angelique.  Is she saying the fact she was flirted with PROOF that LeFoux is not in a relationship? Alexia, you were flirting back and you’re married. This is not a brilliant deduction.  We only have this transition so that Alexia can brag about almost BUT NOT ACTUALLY cheating on her husband.  And like…it’s one thing to take the piss out of him because he’s irrationally jealous.  However Alexia herself was like REALLY, REALLY irrationally jealous a second ago and it’s not really irrational since Alexia might have had sex with her if she came to the conclusion earlier that girls can like other girls.  SoOOoOOoOOoo great!

We continue to have pissing contests.  Maccon is mad that Alexia never told him she was almost poisoned, even though you’d THINK Tunstell would have brought that up to him since he’s his servant and he was the one actually poisoned.  LeFoux admits she was looking around for Alexia’s bag and that she wanted the humanization weapon too.  However she wants it NOT because she’s in the Hypocras club, but in the Organization of the Brass Octopus (OBO.)  The Organization of the Brass Octopus is a secret group of Scientists that is working to curb the power of Supernaturals and that the Hypocras Club was a ~militant branch~ of the OBO.  Alexia is bothered that Maccon didn’t tell her about OBO, since YANNO Alexia spent half the book thinking that her crush LeFoux wanted to genocide people like her husband.  Which yanno REALLY STOPPED HER FROM A LOT THERE!  Alexia tries to ask more questions about OBO and Maccon just answers them all with, “But it’s a secret!”

Really love that Maccon gets super mad when Alexia doesn’t talk to him, but when she asks questions he huffs and won’t tell her.  You could maybe argue that since it’s a secret society thing that Maccon shouldn’t tell her. He was sworn to secrecy or some shit.  But like also…a branch of this club nearly killed them both… and she’s in charge of the entire English government’s Supernatural balance system….Maybe it’s okay for her to know a little about a powerful organization in that country that’s supposed to do the same thing?

WHATEVER!

We end with LeFoux admitting she was LOOKING FOR Alexia’s bag but never went through it or messed up her room to find it.  Alexia for once has a normal reaction which boils down to, “FUCK THIS SHIT!” and storms out.  CAUSE WHY BRING UP SHE WAS LOOKING FOR IT AT ALL? That is pointlessly confusing.

So below I made a little chart with how easily it could have been to make this conversation flow better. Even if you want to keep in jealousy pissing contest which is also an EVEN WOMEN WOULD SEX ME STUPID HUSBAND!

I’ll admit I don’t know a lot about editing books…but I feel as if either the editors gave this a soft touch.  It seems like a simple fix that could have tightened it up and made it an easier read.

Say something nice Faps:

It was technically a climax

They technically tried to wrap things up

It has been acknowledged that yes LESBIANS ARE REAL

I did genuinely like Alexia having a vulnerable moment looking upon her knocked out husband and feeling protective of him.

[quoteablebooks]

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Fantasy Romance, Historical Fiction, Steampunk

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Summary:

Guilty of an indiscretion? Time to marry a werewolf. WEREWOLVES The monsters left Faith ruined in the eyes of society, so now they’re her only option. Rejected by her family, Faith crosses the Atlantic, looking for a marriage of convenience and revenge. But things are done differently in London. Werewolves are civilized. At least they pretend to be. AMERICANS Backward heathens with no culture, Major Channing has never had time for any of them. But there’s something special about Faith. Channing finds himself fighting to prove himself and defend his species. But this werewolf has good reason not to trust human women. Even if they learn to love, can either of them forgive? From the New York Times bestselling author of the Parasol Protectorate series comes a stand alone romance set in the same universe. Look out for appearances from favorite characters and the serious consequences of unwarranted geology.

*Opinions*

How to Marry a Werewolf is A Claw and Courtship Novella set in the Parasolverse that involves everyone’s favorite Gamma of the London Werewolf Pack. While most of the other main characters of the parasolverse have been paired up, the surly white wolf of the London Pack continues to be aloof to pack and London society alike. However, when an American woman is sent to the ton for the express purpose of marrying a werewolf, the Gamma made of ice might have finally met his match, even if she is American. This is a sweet story about two people both wronged by other people and society attempting to trust each other enough to be cared for again. While neither of the main characters is rather memorable in this book, they do work well together. Both are stubborn and scared of being hurt again by someone that was supposed to love them, which makes Major Channing’s brisk manner easier to take. I was more invested in finally figuring out Channing’s past given that I have followed his bad behavior through the Parasole Protectorate series. It was nice to get behind that icy and rude demeanor to see a man that did not trust others but mostly did not trust himself. While I don’t think his backstory fully excuses his prat-like behavior in the other novels, no one in the book does either besides maybe Faith. Then again, as someone who has currently been through a similar loss, she would understand better than the rest of the pack. While the main characters were rather bland, the supporting characters, as always in Carriger novels, were lovely and very entertaining. The Iftercrast family was delightfully silly, but had true loyalty and character where it counted. The London Pack, as always, was bright and full of life and a found family in every sense of the word. You get a true sense that Biffy has settled into his role as Alpha since the last time he graced the page and Professor Lyall continues to be my favorite character in this universe with his intelligence and quiet strength. Both werewolves' relationships with Channing were rather touching. I think that Carriger navigated some rather heavy topics deftly without completely changing the light tone of the novella. While I am sure people who had dealt with either issue will have a hard time with the topics and they are given emotional weight, they are not the focus of the novel. Still, individuals who are triggered by suicide, miscarriages, and child death should take care while reading this novel. Even with these heavy topics, the novel overall is a fun novella about love and finding a family which I really enjoyed.

[adotblog]

Brave New World-Chapter 1-Baptism of fire.

Pairing: LMM x Reader

Warnings: Alcohol, discussion of a crappy relationship.

Notes: Alright, here it is-the follow-up to the Brave series. I’m basically going for a Sliding Doors kinda thing here-the same characters from Brave meet in the same way but take different actions and we see how their relationship would’ve progressed on this different path. I’m thinking it’ll be 5/6 parts and I’ll aim to publish every Friday. Since they’re the same characters, there will be callbacks to Brave-similar phrases used, backstory elaboration, that kind of thing. You know I crave feedback so please let me know what you think-use anonymous ask if you’re shy :)

There’s a sort of West Wing reference (when isn’t there?)

Words: 3005. I’ll never change.

It’s your second week at the theatre and you’ve already settled in pretty well. Most of your working hours are spent with your colleague Clare who is chatty and loves to sing and boogie her way through prep, which was a welcome surprise. Everyone you’ve met so far has been sweet and the work is varied. Overall quite the good start. You’ve yet to meet Lin-Manuel Miranda, the composer and lead actor, as he’s been on vacation. But Jonathan (another new friend) says he’s funny and lovely. Today you’ve brought in a ton of doughnuts for everyone-two-show days are long and you figure people might need a pick-me-up.

You’re surrounded by stage crew as soon as you come through the door and they immediately take one box off your hands. You head through to the common area with the others and go to place them on the table. You see that there are a couple of people in the office and since the door is open, you decide to take the plunge and go in with the final box.

As you near the door you see that Jonathan is one of the people in there and he beckons you to come straight in. Chris is also there-you’ve met him once already-and as you go through the door you realise the other person is Lin-Manuel Miranda. You nearly freeze on the spot as he flashes you a big smile.

You’re dimly aware that Jon is introducing you and saying something complimentary. There’s a hand stuck out in front of you and you juggle doughnuts in order to shake it. “Please, just call me Lin”. Lin. Ok. Well, Lin is an absolute dream.

He has long dark hair, pulled back in a scruffy bun. His skin is a rich olive and so smooth-looking that it really makes you want to stroke some part of him. Uhoh. His smile is broad and beaming, his voice warm and so New York it almost hurts. Oh boy, new crush. Absolutely no escaping this one. Shit.

You pull yourself away from your reverie and start offering out doughnuts as the guys continue their conversation. “And so I was thinking of changing that line up and putting in another Shakespeare quote”, says Lin. Chris plays eenie meanie minie mo to choose a flavour as Lin elaborates “so Eliza will refer to New York as a ‘Brave New World’”.

“Oh, I wouldn’t”, you say before your brain connects to your mouth. Jonathan freezes, hand hovering over a doughnut. He catches your eye and manages to convey with a single look “What are you doing correcting the boss the very first time you meet him?!”. You panic. This is not a good career move. “Why wouldn’t you?”, prompts Lin, an amused smile on his lips.

You look briefly to Jon for help but he just makes a “go ahead” gesture. Fuck it. You turn to face Lin and try to keep your voice even as you say “Well, Shakespeare was poking fun-Miranda refers to the place as a ‘brave new world’ because she’s seen some hot dude. Brave means ‘handsome’ and the subtext is that it’s handsome but lacking any character or depth. So you’d be suggesting that New York hasn’t got anything under the pretty. Also, Miranda was sappy and pathetic-Eliza’s too badass for her words.”. You finish by extending the box of doughnuts in Lin’s direction, as if they’ll protect you from any backlash.

Lin reaches out and takes one “Alright then, no brave new world!”, he says with a smile. Oh thank god, he’s not mad. You smile back and begin to retreat out of the room, saying you’ll leave the box by the coffee maker. “Hey Y/N?”, Lin calls after you. You stick your head back around the door and he says “Don’t write off all Mirandas, Ok?” and winks at you.

*****************************************

Over the next week or so, you get to know Lin and the rest of the cast and crew a little better. Whenever Jonathan is around he introduces you to new people and tells you what everyone’s role is, which really helps you feel more at home. Jonathan is hilarious and warm, you clicked right away and he’s a lot of fun to hang out with. The only downside is that he has an adjoining dressing room to Lin’s, so you’ve also seen a lot of him. That means your inappropriate-attraction-to-the-boss situation has not got any better. It doesn’t help that Lin is charming, sweet, honest and welcoming. You’ve a burgeoning crush and it makes you nervous as hell.

It’s the break between shows and you are alone in the wings getting everything back in place for the evening. You’re blasting some tunes from your Spotify when a head pops around the scenery-a beautiful head. It’s Jasmine, a principal cast member you’ve spoken to a couple of times. “I was just wondering where the music was coming from!”, she says with a grin. “Oh, sorry-do you want me to turn it down?”, you ask nervously. “Hell no! I came to dance!”, she answers as she comes into the wings. You laugh and the track changes to Superstition by Stevie Wonder, causing Jasmine to holler “I looooove this song!”. She grabs your hands and spins you round and round, insisting that you dance with her.

Jasmine’s enthusiasm is infectious and you’re giggling as you both slip out onto the stage, dancing all the while. When the song ends, shuffle picks out something soft and instrumental, eliciting a boo from Jasmine. She stands, hands on hips. “This is not dancing music”, she disparages. “Pssh, you’ve no imagination!”, says a voice from the wings. Lin’s voice.

Jasmine rolls her eyes as Lin steps out onto the stage. He heads straight over to you, takes your right hand in his, puts your left hand on his shoulder and grabs your waist. He leads you in some kind of haphazard salsa all over the stage. It’s totally unsuited to the music and you’re laughing uncontrollably while Lin keeps a mock-serious face. Jasmine declares you both crazy and heads back to her dressing room. Lin continues to spin you around the stage until the song ends. When the music shuffles to a Biffy Clyro song he holds up his hands in defeat. “I’m out!”, he laughs. He pulls you to the front of the stage to take a bow and then drops your hand to take his leave. “Welcome to the company”, he says with a smile as he heads away.

*****************************************

Three weeks in and you’ve essentially committed yourself as chief two-show day snack-bringer. You’ve met everyone now and are thrilled to be working with such a lovely group. You place a box of cookies in the green room and take a handful upstairs to the dressing rooms. You drop a few off with Oak and Anthony and then knock on Lin’s dressing room door.

“Come in!”, he yells. He’s only half-dressed when you walk in. Breeches are on but he’s naked from the waist up. Oh god. He looks good. He really looks good. “Oh sorry, I thought you were costumes!”, he apologises “I have a shirt emergency” he holds up a torn shirt sleeve as evidence. You drag your gaze from his torso, his smooth, kissable torso, to his face. “No problem.”, you say. This is a lie. This is *entirely* problematic. You won’t be able to shake this image for days. He pulls on his torn shirt and asks what you need.

Oh yeah, there was an actual reason you came here. “Cookies…I brought cookies”, you say. “Thanks!”, he says, taking one and moaning as he bites into it. This is really not helping. “Ok I gotta go!”, you say abruptly. “Uhh, more deliveries!”. You wave the cookies as you make a quick exit.

You pause with your back to his door for a second or so to recover your senses. There is no denying now that you have a full-scale, ridiculously school-girl crush on Lin. This is a recipe for disaster.

You knock on Jasmine’s dressing room door and enter. You’ve been spending most of your breaks with her, becoming fast friends incredibly easily. You toss her a cookie and squish into the chair in the corner of the room. “I just added you to the WhatsApp group”, she says as she throws her phone in her bag. “Group?”, you ask. “Yeah a bunch of us go out or have dinner semi-regularly so we have a group chat, and since you’re my new bestie you’re automatically required to come with me.”, she says matter-of-factedly. “I’m your new bestie?”, you ask with a hand clutched to your heart-you’re only partly joking, you’re quite touched. “Duh!”, she says and adds a wink. “It’s the snacks, isn’t it?”, you joke. “Aww man, you’ll never know…”, she answers and you both dissolve into giggles.

*****************************************

Chris: Ray’s bar, 8. Who’s in?

Lin: I’m there.

Jasmine: Me and Y/N are in.

Jonathan: Of course.

Lin: Woah, Newbie’s first #Hamilouting

Jonathan: Lin that’s a terrible hashtag.

Y/N: Uhh, Apparently I’m in…

Lin: We’ll ease you in gently, don’t worry.

Chris: Naw, baptism of fire, I say!

Y/N: Oh shit.

*****************************************

Nothing fancy, Jasmine said. Jeans and a nice top, she said. Nothing you have is any good. Staring at your wardrobe, you may as well be looking at racks of cloth sacks-nothing is jumping out at you. In desperation you text Jasmine.

HELP. I have nothing to wear. I know people always say that but it’s actually true.

Jasmine: Just a nice top will do, honey.

NOTHING, Jas.

Jasmine: You wanna come over? You can borrow something?

Please. Now?

Jasmine: see you in a bit.

Jasmine’s place is a subway ride away from yours, so you grab your makeup and put on your best jeans and head straight out. When you arrive, Jasmine instantly approves of your jeans and shoes. She has laid out a few tops for you to try on, and perches on the bed while you turn this way and that in front of the mirror. Ten minutes later, she’s bored. “The purple one was fine, Y/N”, she says. You make a dissatisfied noise. “It was! Why are you so bent out of shape about tonight, anyway?”, she asks. “I just want to make a good impression”, you say. “Mmhmm”, she sounds skeptical but doesn’t push it further.

When you arrive, Lin and Chris wave you over to a booth they’ve saved. “You’re both looking lovely”, Lin says. “She always looks amazing”, you say as you sit down next to him and Jas goes to the bar with Chris. Lin gives you a look. “What?”, you ask. “Just, that’s a funny way of taking a compliment.”, he jokes. “Oh, yeah no I don’t do that well”, you admit. “And why’s that?”, he asks outright. “Well Dr,”, you tease “low self-esteem, shitty ex destroying my confidence-you know the drill”. Lin nods slowly. “Well, we gotta do something about that.”, he says. “What do you mean?”. “Well I’ll just have to keep giving you compliments until you believe them”, he shrugs. Well, you don’t quite know what to do with that.

Thankfully Jonathan turns up at that moment and wraps you both in hugs, complaining about the weather and enthusing about the cocktails. On cue, Jasmine and Chris return from the bar with a tray of drinks. Whiskey for Chris and Lin, Cosmo for Jasmine. “And I got you two an Old Fashioned each”, she says. “I love you”, you and Jon say in unison and then collapse into each other in a fit of giggles. “Oh boy, they’re off!”, calls Chris.

*****************************************

Four Old Fashioneds in and you’re a teeny bit tipsy and having a whale of a time. You’ve danced with Jasmine until your feet are too sore and now you’re nestled safely in your booth between Lin and Jon, shoes off and feet tucked under you. “I’m so ladylike”, you groan, indicating your crossed legs. “Look at Jazzy, all class and grace-how d’ya get like that?”, you question. Lin does a double take “I’m wearing sneakers and a hoodie, don’t ask me!”, he says. You both turn to Jon. “Darling, you either have it or you don’t.”, he says dramatically. You and Lin roll your eyes at each other as Jon laughs at his own joke. He downs the rest of his drink and after checking his watch, announces that he’s got to go. He tracks down Jasmine and Chris and hugs them goodbye before running out to hail a cab. Jasmine tried to drag you up for another couple of dances but you protest about your feet. Chris has reached his limit too and she’s just about to work on Lin when she gets a text message from Anthony. He wants her to join him and his friends at a club a few blocks away. Chris offers to walk her their on his way home. You and Lin both jokingly boo them for skipping out before midnight, but it’s all kisses and hugs as you part.

And then it’s just the two of you squished into the booth. You settle back with your legs crossed again, facing Lin and sipping another Old Fashioned. “So the shitty ex”, he begins. “Ugh, yes?”, you reply. “How long ago was he?”, Lin asks. “Couple of years ago, he moved away when we broke up-he never liked New York and resented me for moving here”, you say. “Well, another reason to hate him”, says Lin. You nod. “He just. I always felt like he was ashamed of me, you know? He would go out with his friends but never take me, he just used to put me down all the time and our sex-life was just fucking DEAD”, you exclaim. “Oh god. Why did I tell you that?”, you say, rubbing your temple. Lin laughs to try and break the tension “Because you’re on your fifth Old Fashioned?”, he suggests.

You shake your head. “I’m not drunk. Merry, maybe.”, you admit. “I’ve not told anyone any of that before. I mean, with everything else I’m a pretty open book but not…this”. Lin takes a drink, and then takes your hand. “I’m glad you told me.”, he says. “He sounds like an idiot, though”. “I thought I loved him. I did, once. I don’t know if he ever loved me though. That bugs me, makes me doubt my instincts.”, you admit. Why are you telling him all this?! He’s just so inviting-those warm eyes, the way he makes you feel like he’s really listening. The odds are really stacking against you ever being able to resist this ill-fated crush.

“Don’t doubt yourself. You strike me as pretty bright, pretty observant…just generally pretty too”, he says with a grin to lighten the mood. You give him a light punch on the arm, unsure whether he was serious and clueless as to how you should react.

“Now, how we gonna get you home?”, he asks, looking at your feet. “Barefoot, baby!”, you laugh. “Umm, no. No, no. Your feet’ll be in shreds. We gotta get a cab to your apartment.”, he insists. “Is it on your way?”, you ask when you’ve told him your address. “Sure”.

You spend the cab ride talking about the last movie you both saw, and the time passes very quickly. When you reach your building, you’re so busy wincing at your shoes as you get out that you don’t notice Lin has also got out and has paid for the cab. “Lin is this really on your way home?”, you ask as he offers you his arm. “Good lord, no!”, he laughs. “Lin!”, you protest. “I promised Jas I’d get you home safe-I’m under strict instructions to walk you to your door”, he says.

You wonder for a second if Jas has caught on to your crush on Lin, and this is a set up on her part. But then you’re at your door and there’s no time left to wonder about that. Lin stands awkwardly as you search for your keys. “Do you want to come in for some coffee?”, you ask as you pull the keys out of your bag. Even though you know you can’t sleep with the boss, a little rebel part of your brain hopes he’ll come in and is daydreaming about how that would go. “I can’t, but thanks.”, Lin says. “How was your first Hamilouting?”, he asks with a grin. “So much fun”, you smile. “And hey, sorry if I unloaded on you back there-I’m kinda sober now and regretting revealing all my insecurities…”, you say, trying to laugh it off. Lin moves closer, standing right in front of you now. “Not at all.”, he says. “I just wish that no one had ever made you feel anything less than strong and beautiful”. He reaches out and moves your hair behind your ear as you feel your own breath hitch.

In the next few seconds, your mind races: is he making a move? Isn’t he technically your boss? This can’t be a good idea.

Then he strokes his thumb across your cheek bone and brings his lips to yours and oh but it’s the best fucking idea. You lift your hand to his neck and close any remaining distance between you by pressing your body up against his.

The kiss is pretty much perfect-gentle but firm, sweet but insistent. It makes you want to pull him through your door and keep kissing him until your lips are bruised.

But soon he stops. He is looking for a sign from you that this is ok. You reach up to give him a peck on the cheek and softly say “Goodnight, Lin.”. “Goodnight, Y/N”, he says, and you smile before turning to open your door. “I’ll see you tomorrow “, he calls as he heads for the stairs, flashing you a smile as he goes.

“Tomorrow”.

[drvinyl]

How did Peace In Protest form and what’s the story behind the name? Sean and I met shortly after moving to Brighton to study and started playing in a load of different bands. And Ben and Sean are childhood best friends and had been playing in bands for years back home. So when Ben moved down a year after us it just sort of made sense for the three of us to start a band together. We can't entirely remember when we came up with the name but we'd been struggling for names for ages and that one just stuck. We were looking for something that didn't pin us to a certain genre and we liked the duality of the words so we were all sold on it pretty quickly!

How would you describe your music? We've always struggled with this one! Recently we came up with describing it as "heavy tunes written like pop songs", I think we've also toyed with "Riff-Pop". We listen to a lot of heavy bands but we've always focused on the hooks, grooves and melodies when writing to make our music more accessible. 

Are there any bands that influence your sound? Loads! There's always a difference between what you listen to and what you end up sounding like. We all grew up listening to Biffy Clyro and Lower Than Atlantis, and listen to a lot of Arcane Roots and Black Peaks. On the other hand we also listen to a lot of things like The 1975, Tears for Fears and Bruno Mars. The last few are probably a lot less obvious, but they influence us in our writing of the songs as a whole rather than crafting a rock sound. 

Favourite music at the moment? Brighton is a great place to be starting out as a band because you're surrounded by so many great artists. We saw CLT DRP the other week and were totally blown away. Also artists like la lune, Sal Paradise and The Yellow Bellies we've been fans of for ages. We've also had Fatherson on heavy rotation recently.

Plans for the future? Any upcoming shows? Our next single 'Coda' came out on February 22nd and we've been in the studio working on an EP which will hopefully be out this summer. We're really excited to get all this music out that we've been sitting on for ages. We're playing at The Prince Albert February 26th supporting our mates in Gnarlah which we can't wait for. We also have a few more gigs in the pipeline which we should hopefully be able to announce soon! 

So, the new single is now out! How has the response been so far and are you looking forward to playing it live? It’s been really great so far. Because we’ve had this song for so long it’s very hard to be able to listen to it with fresh ears which I think probably gave us a slight worry as to whether people would like it or not. But all the feedback has been so nice which really excites us for the future. We’re very excited to play it, we always get very into it.

How would you compare the new single to your previous tunes, would you say your sound has evolved at all since starting the band? Coda came about pretty quickly, before we even had a name! It’s very high-paced, gritty and intense which, come to think of it, is how you’d describe a film. We wanted something like Coda when we were putting our set together, something in-your-face. Something braver than we were. Our style has definitely matured since writing it. We go over everything with a fine-toothed comb. But Coda we just let happen quite naturally with little change. I guess you could say it’s a lot more raw? But that’s just what we wanted.

What would you say have been your favourite gigs as Peace in Protest so far? Two always spring to mind for us. We played a late night show at Sticky Mike’s back in December. We don’t know what it was but we just go so into it. We had people singing the words back to us which was a first. You end up feeding off of that energy and we just put our all into it. Maybe it was all the cheap beer? We’ll never know. The other was our first headline show back in January at the Green Door Store. We felt a lot of pressure for that show but it couldn’t have gone better and we were so pleased.

Listen to Coda on Spotify here. Instagram: @peaceinprotestuk

[ycpspider]

92 Truths

Rules: Write 92 truths about yourself then tag 25 people

tagged by @blndrgn  thanks again love!!

LAST…

[1] drink: Arizona sweet tea

[2] phone call: mom

[3] text message: bro

[4] song you listened to: Time to Pretend-MGMT

[5] time you cried: honestly don't remember

HAVE YOU EVER…

[6] dated someone twice: nope

[7] been cheated on: yes

[8] kissed someone and regretted it: yes

[9] lost someone special: of course

[10] been depressed: sad

[11] gotten drunk and thrown up: ew yes

LIST 3 FAVOURITE COLORS:

[12] Black

[13] Red

[14] Purple

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU…

[15] made new friends: no

[16] fallen out of love: its been just over a year

[17] laughed until you cried: yes

[18] found out someone was talking about you: no

[19] met someone who changed you: nah

[20] found out who your true friends are: no

[21] kissed someone on your facebook list: nope

GENERAL…

[22] how many of your facebook friends do you know in real life: just about all of them

[23] do you have any pets: nope

[24] do you want to change your name: no

[25] what did you do for your last birthday: it snowed that day so nothing lol

[26] what time did you wake up: 6am

[27] what were you doing at midnight last night: sleeping

[28] name something you cannot wait for: exo in 2 weeks! 

[29] when was the last time you saw your mother: last night

[30] what is one thing you wish you could change about your life: the amount of money I make

[31] what are you listening to right now: still time to pretend

[32] have you ever talked to a person named tom: loved a person named tom who turned out to be a complete asshole and was never sincere or truthful about anything.....sorry

[33] something that is getting on your nerves: some of the people I work with

[34] most visited website: facebook

[35] elementary: longfellow

[36] high school: Pennsauken high school

[37] college: York college of PA

[38] hair color: shit brown with red growing out making it like straw on the ends

[39] long or short hair: long

[40] do you have a crush on someone: nope

[41] what do you like about yourself: my sense of humor

[42] piercings: 2 each ear

[43]blood type: A+

[44] nickname: meliss

[45] relationship status: nonexistent

[46] zodiac sign: capricorn

[47] pronouns: she/her

[48] fav tv show: the walking dead, bates motel, ink master, taboo, outcast, preacher, fear the walking dead, my 600 lb life

[49] tattoos: 6. ankle, back, both wrists, both lower arms

[50] right or left hand: right

FIRST…

[51] surgery: wisdom teeth

[52] piercing: ears

[53] best friend: jimmy tippin who I found on myspace and then facebook lol

[54] sport: never played sports

[55] vacation: prolly Disney in Orlando florida

[56] pair of trainers: what

RIGHT NOW…

[57] eating: nothing

[58] drinking: still that Arizona sweet tea

[59] i’m about to: pass out from boredom...im at work tho

[60] listening to: hold me tight-BTS

[61] waiting for: biffy clyro on Friday!

[62] want: more money

[63] get married: if I find the right person

[64] career: im a clerk at a courthouse..child support crap

WHICH IS BETTER…

[65] hugs or kisses: hugs

[66] lips or eyes: eyes

[67] shorter or taller: taller but i'll take either

[68] older or younger: doesn't matter

[70] nice arms or nice stomach: arms

[71] sensitive or loud: both

[72] hook up or relationship: relationship

[73] troublemaker or hesitant: doesn't matter

HAVE YOU EVER…

[74] kissed a stranger? yes

[75] drank hard liquor? yep

[76] lost glasses/contact lenses? nope. would be blind if I did

[77] turned someone down: yes

[78] sex on first date? does a first meeting count...like it wasn't a date...and I don't condone or recommend doing that

[79] broken someone’s heart? mutual heart breaking occured

[80] had your own heart broken? yes

[81] been arrested? yah

[82] cried when someone died? yes

[83] fallen for a friend? yes...don't do it

DO YOU BELIEVE IN…

[84] yourself? I do

[85] miracles? not really

[86] love at first sight? nah

[87] Santa Claus? of course

[88] kiss on the first date? depends on how the date goes

[89] angels? nah

OTHER…

[90] current best friend’s name: steph & steph

[91] eye color: brown

[92] favorite movie: the Goonies 

thanks again for the tag!  I cant tag that many people tho...im at work hahahaha

[ofgodsandllamas]

prettybabo replied to your post “six random things about meeeee tagged by @twofee I need you all to...”

I demand more info about your move to Korea!!! -biffy :)

(in the politest way possible ofc i was just excited lolol)

Hahaha! Don’t worry, I def read it as excitement! My husband was given a choice in being stationed in Alaska or Korea and there was no way in HELL I was picking Alaska, so Korea it is! We were also given a choice in where we’d be stationed, either Yongsan in Seoul or Humphreys in Pyeongtaek and obviously I picked Seoul because ????? when will I ever get such a chance again. But they’re working on closing down Yongsan and it sounds like EVEN THO he was stationed in Yongsan, the unit he was assigned to is already in Humphreys? (I wouldn’t be so upset about that if they had just told us Humphreys from the get go so I wouldn’t have started making all kinds of plans for Yongsan, you know? Regardless, a couple of my friends are hopefully going to be studying abroad during the summer in Seoul, and have graciously offered to let me stay with them during their time, so we can still hang out together. )

(But ugh I’d been looking at apartments and our housing limit would have gotten us something so COOL in Seoul and being able to go to markets every day tickled me and just getting to get out of the house and go places you know?! I was already aiming for the area of Hannam, too lmao i had this worked oooout!) 

I mean, to be fair, Pyeongtaek is like an hour-ish from Seoul by train, I’ve read (but it still adds up when you consider it’s like 10 bucks round trip, so it’s not a trip I can make OFTEN). 

All the same, I’m very excited (and hoping that somehow we still wind up at Yongsan even if just for a little while???) I figured being able to LIVE in Korea would be one of the best opportunities of my life - one not otherwise very feasible, and since we’ll be there for two years, I don’t have to worry about trying to go everywhere in a one or two month visit you know? I’ll be able to actually progress with learning Korean!!! (Crossing my fingers like a neeeeerd that B1A4 has some kind of summer comeback lmao or at least a fanmeet after May so that I can go, too LMAO!!!! I’ve promised my friend that if GOT7 endorses things I’ll try to get stuff for her lmaoooooo) 

I’M READY FOR FOOD AND SHOPPING AND TRAVELING AND SIGHTSEEING AND WILDLY NEW EXPERIENCES AND MAYBE A TRIP TO JAPAN WITH MY FRIEND AND MEETING UP WITH FRIENDS AND JUST ALFJAKFJAFKAF 

Anyway come early May or so we’ll be over there! We don’t totally know where we’re going lmao (like I said, assigned to one place but told we’ll be in another “but if not here then you’ll be in Yongsan” thanks for the very explicit info) Not excited about the summer (I live in Texas currently so you’d think I’d be used to the heat but NO and also Texas isn’t nearly as humid and I’ve gotten really used to no humid summers lmao) but aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh it’s going to be an incredible two years! 

twofee replied to your post “six random things about meeeee tagged by @twofee I need you all to...”

!!!! ive never had a vampire either! and ive also never died my hair, because i wanted red like my naturally carrot-topped mother and you can't do that with dye (or so my hairdresser told me).

Whoa, really?! You’d think that it would be a very feasible color! I mean I guess it sort of makes sense but also. ;A; how devastating! I’d be upset, too! lmao The only reason I ever dyed my hair was because that mermaid red color just SPOKE to me, so I fully get only wanting to do it for one particular color! 

Man I need to figure out how to let vampires happen in Arcadia cos I WANNA TRY IT ONE DAY!

simper-fi replied to your post “six random things about meeeee tagged by @twofee I need you all to...”

WE ARE HALF THE SAME PERSON I've never had a vampire (or most supernaturals in TS2), I'm 27 and don't have a driver's license, and I also haven't written anything in years but still can't let go of my childhood dream of becoming a published author ;_____;

AKFJLAFKJ!!!! HOW WILD! And funny enough the only supernaturals I HAVE (kind of) played is witches, so we’re pretty on par for the course still lmao (ALSO I never knew we were practically the same age!!!!) Ugh I uncovered old diaries once from like, third grade I think? about wanting to be published and alfjakfj it hurt lmao. One day I’ll try but writer’s block is so cruel :( 

[carlculationinfinityinterviews]

ORCHARDS INTERVIEW

Orchards, a quartet based in Brighton that masterfully modulates between the primary colours of pop and malleable molecules of math rock. 

Each of their tracks contains a copious amount of cleverly executed hooks and progressive punctuation that’s subtle and subliminal, providing plenty of musical muscle that’s robustly relevant to the ears of musicians and the casual listener which is no easy feat. 

Its pleasant to see a band pull this off without it sounding like its a forced installation of ideas that are trying to swiftly suit the needs of the listener or cut creative corners to satisfy tasteless trends. 

Orchards do everything listed above and clearly convey a sense of fun whilst maintaining a serious approach to songwriting that’s meticulous and modern. 

I interviewed Orchards on their tour with Tiny Moving Parts back in summer after their recent signing to Big Scary Monsters. 

Losers/Lovers by Orchards

How did Orchards form and what were all of you musical intentions for how you wanted Orchards to sound and how has that changed from then to now ?

Sam: Orchards began with me and the original vocalist, we started to write a few songs together and then got Will (drums ) involved and then decided that we needed a bassist. I didn't actually know any specific bass players but I did know someone who owned bass which, was my housemate Dan Fane.

Dan: Me and Sam lived together and I was the owner of the bass guitar that we had in the flat. I came along to a few practices and starting writing with songs with the rest of the band so, I haven't formally been asked to join the band to this date.......

Sam: That's how we like to keep it, we like to keep him on his toes.

What inspired you to become musicians and become involved in music ?

Sam: My cousin took me to see The Red Hot Chilli Peppers when I was really really young which was a big moment for me, seeing John Frusciante play really opened up my mind to what was possible with the guitar. 

After that I went home and sat with my acoustic and tried for hours to make my guitar sound like his which led me to buying my first electric guitar.

Dan: The first record that I bought was the best of Carlos Santana, my parents loved his music well, it was mainly my dad. My parents used to host a lot of parties in our house and Santana's music was always something that was present there. Seeing people dance and enjoy music in that setting made me want to learn how to play an instrument, I even went and bought one of Santana's signatures guitars as well.

What the bands, artists  and musicians shaped and formed the creative approach you take with your instrument ?

Sam: Again John Frusciante, not just what he did with The Red Hot Chilli Peppers but every aspect of his approach to playing and his solo stuff. I'm really into his other Ataxia as well.

Incubus was another important band that influenced  the way that I play in Orchards. Incubus is one the bands that we can all have as a collective influence. At The Drive and The Mars Volta really blew my mind and were really pushing a lot of musical boundaries so my approach was influenced by lots of different genres combined together.

Dan: It was mainly Biffy Clyro..............

How are the songs are written in Orchards and how does the process work from A to B?

Dan: It's a really different process for all of us since we're all songwriters. Sometimes a song comes from a riff written by Sam or our drummer Will who's also an incredible guitar player as well.  It can be anything really anything from a chorus idea or a top line vocal melody. It's a great way to work and I like how we don't write to formula and have lots of different creative pools to draw from. Orchards sound definitely comes from the different styles and influences that we all have.

Sam: I'll usually have a plethora of ideas that can range from a single guitar part or a complete idea that we'll structure together as a band. Me and  Will will work on some ideas that he's come up for me to try out on guitar which gives me another creative avenue to explore. 

His guitar parts really push me out of my comfort zone which in turn makes me become a better musician.  He'll usually bring me a handful of riffs to try out which I'll change here and there. We'll continue to work on ideas as a full band and shape the songs in a rehearsal room.

Sometimes a song will just come together really easily, like when we wrote I Luv You 2.  

The core elements of the song came from a single guitar part and the whole song came together in the space in a three hour rehearsal. It  hasn't changed from the initial ideas that we came up with together in that one room.

Luv You 2-Orchards

Dan: Whereas songs like Darling which took about two years to write. We couldn't move past a certain point with it and keep hitting a creative wall so we just shelved it and put it to bed until we were ready to work on it again

Darling-Orchards 

Sam: When Lucy joined we started playing it at the end of a rehearsal, without the intention of even working on it so, it was all completely off the cuff when we came up with the rest of the song.

I can't remember if it was a different guitar part or bass line that me or Dan played but something happened which made Lucy add a load of new vocal parts and it all just came together.

How do you maintain a constant state of progression and ensure that you are proficient with your musicianship?

Dan: I don't practise as much as I should and the only time I feel that I seriously practice is when we are rehearsing together as a band. I'm not a bass player, I use a pick and just play it like a guitar so I'm approaching the role of a being a bassist from a totally different perspective than what its used for. 

I mainly just work on writing new material on my Guild acoustic and experimenting with lots of different chords and vocal melodies.

Sam: I write more than I practice, I have a warm up that I play its a something that Tom Morrello uses which is a mixture of hammer ons though, I didn't do that before today's show.

I'll usually just run through songs if I actually need to warm up. The main rule I have is not to have more than two beers before I go on, that's a golden rule since we all got a bit plastered at a show before which doesn't help when you are playing music that's technical with lots of changes.

Since you all write and bring ideas to the table, how important do you think it is to listen to everyone in the band and be honest when working on a song or specific idea, how important is honesty in a band when working together creatively even when it comes to your own ideas?

Dan: We've learned as a band to see an idea through to the end and try it out regardless whether you like it or not.

Its not always the best approach completely shun or dismiss and idea, even if you don't like it based on how it sounds. Getting past that first impression and seeing how it'll turn out in the end is a really factor  to consider in the writing process and something other bands should keep in mind.

There's always room to experiment with ideas, the end result will always be different to the first initial idea. We're always open to try an idea and see what happens.

Sam: We're all really good friends and that really helps, it allows everyone to trust  each others sense of musical judgement. Overall we have a great sense of  musical democracy between us, everyone gets to put their ideas forward and everyone's opinion is taken into account.

Dan: Our live shows for us is the main element that we focus on when writing, playing something that you really don't enjoy live really comes across to the audience.  

What have you learned from playing in a band and knowledge can you pass on to other musicians?

Sam: I'd advise other musicians to only create music that you want to play, don't just follow or write music that fits a scene.

Once a trend dies then all of the music that went with it dies as well, you can't just jump on a scene if its gaining a following already. Just be yourself and focus on writing music that you love to play.

Dan: I remember watching an interview with Biffy Clyro and they were talking about the origins of the band.  Their agenda from the start was to only play the music that they had a collective passion for and that they wanted to create.

So like Sam I'd strongly agree with playing and writing music that you really enjoy, its one of the most crucial points of being in a band.

Do you think bands need to deliver more to an audience and that audiences expect more in this modern age?  

Sam: I like it when a band sounds completely different from their studio recording, that's how you can tell if a band is actually performing live.

I've never been a fan watching bands that play to  backing tracks or drummers just pressing play on some kind of sampler.

I saw Clean Clean Cut Kid live recently and they sounded completely different to their recorded albums. It just makes it more of a an interesting experience for the audience and the band playing since everything isn't running on a script.

Orchards - Live and Acoustic - BSM Popup Shop, Cardiff

Dan: I think its very easy to go overboard when you are in the studio and a song can really sound great with loads of additional overdubbed parts and different layers but, you are always going to find a problem playing it live if you go down that route since you don't have an abundance of extra  musicians playing everything you've recorded or  you have to play to a click so that everything lines up with a backing track, eliminating any elements of surprise.

Musicians naturally speed up, slow down, play more aggressively or quietly to cause tension in a live performance.

 You can't really do that if you are relying on a bunch of other elements to enhance your performance, if one thing goes down then your whole set can be ruined.

Sam: Its annoying when a band can't play a key element of they the song because its on a synth or something that can't be incorporated in a live setting. I prefer a live performance to be as natural as possible with everyone reacting as a band instead of relying on software to cue everything.

Our producer Thomas Lebeau Morley knows how to make the songs like they've been played together by a band in the same room even though we've recorded some additional parts and layers.  He mixes everything in a such a clever way and doesn't sound like a misinterpretation of what we sound like live.

There's a difference between both mediums but its not a drastic difference when we go between them.

What do you use in your rig?

Sam: I'm currently using a Mexican Fender Mustang and an American Telecaster going through a Fender Deluxe Hotrod and  a Fender Deville.

My pedal board is designed to fill out the space of only having one guitar in the band and  I'm playing a lot melodies instead of chords. Like Incubus and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers we've got three different instruments to work with  Lucy's vocals on top 

I'm using a Line 6 DL4, two boss delays which are used for slap back delays and a Electro Harmonix Cathedral for reverb.

Next is a Poly Octave Generator from Electro Harmonix and a Digitech Whammy  which are used for pitch shifting and octaves.

I've started using more modulated effects which is where the Marshall Regenerator and  Rainbow Machine come into play. The Rainbow Machine is really a weird pedal that requires some fine tuning but I've found a way to integrate it in with everything else.

My last pedal is a Dunes Overdrive from Earthquaker  Devices that I competition from Juan Alderete during one of  their exhibitions. Its another weird pedal that's replaced my Boss DS1 and just gives me a really thick (GIRTH!) and heavy sound!

A big shout out to the Yamaha ABC ( Automatic Bass Chord ) Keyboard, we've used that for every track we've put out. Its coming to the end of its life and is covered in duct tape.

Unfortunately Yamaha have discontinued this model and they are quite hard to find online. I remember that I dislocated my shoulder and still had to play all of the parts when it was in that condition but we managed to get everything down, hopefully it doesn't croak before we put out our next release.

Lucy also uses a Boss VE20 for harmonies and doubling up her vocals. 

What advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time and see yourself as a younger musician?

Dan: I'd advise myself to not use too much distortion, when I first started playing live I was always at the front playing guitar, using the stereotypical Line 6 Spider amplifier on the most metal sounding setting which sounded great on its own but doesn't give you any real definition of what you are actually playing in terms harmony or melody.

Sam: I'd invest in a good set of strings and avoid using the cheapest brand that I was using at the time and the correct gauge to suit my style of playing since I used to always snap strings when I was a younger musician.  I'd tell myself to get my guitar setup by a professional guitar tech, its not an expensive process and can really make a difference.

Sam Rushton was recently nominated by Total Guitar Magazine as one the best new guitarists of 2018. 

Give him your vote since he’s paving the way forward with modern guitar music and he’s a quality chap. 

Just follow the link below and VOTE!!!!!

https://www.musicradar.com/news/who-is-the-best-new-guitarist-of-2018?fbclid=IwAR2I3xHrx-hXDyiElpPrsjOPjk7zKSmg2hTyqy-rJoDn_99eGH519Q7LAn0

Please follow Orchards at the following links listed below 

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/orchardslive

Spotify

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4XWU6kWmuSBJJ1QL0BV3NZ

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/orchardslive/?hl=en

( Photos by Dan Chase and Jessie Morgan )

[galenaes]

Glee Series Rewatch - 5x12 Part 1

I know TV show and all but I wonder how Kurt, Rachel and Santana’s boss felt when he learned he’d be losing three of his waitstaff for a week.

The forced drama between Rachel and Mercedes begins... 

It literally makes no sense and makes both of them look bad...

And of course Kurt’s job during this is to play mediator like he had to do between Rachel and Santana...

But KURT AND  BLAINE SITTING NEXT TO EACH OTHER oh how i miss them

lol Marley’s face when Tina tells her what April once taught her

and I bet April’s comment about why Raise Your Glass didn’t annoy her when it got stuck in her head because it was the Warblers was a bit of a nod to fans loving their songs 

But still... Such a shame they didn’t have Blaine sing this song since it was his to begin with.... siiiiigh

But he’s cute with the choreography he adds in :)

Blaine did it better.  And he didn’t sound so over produced... 

Yep... Warblers did it waaaay better. Blaine should’ve sung it. 

Siiiigh. Puck.... I know the character isn’t the actor but still... hard to separate a bit.  

I forgot about Quinn’s boyfriend... Biff...   He’s an ass too if I recall correctly...

I will never be able to buy this whole Brittany is a genius plot. 

There’s not really much plot to this episode, is there? lol  

...they never really would’ve been able to do this type of performance when Brit, Santana and Quinn were in high school. 

Quinn...stop trying to defend Biffy... he’s an ass. No getting around it. 

Well... they apparently do make a comment about it being unreasonable for Rachel to take off from NYC for a week. lol  but shhhhh let us suspend belief for a bit. If GoT can do it, so can Glee 

lol the 4th wall breaking about Mercedes being a really good dancer 

siiiiigh the drama between these two makes no sense.

though Rachel claiming she’ll take that high note at the end lol  at least they gave that to Kurt...

Quinn is trying too hard with this asshole Biff.

Shue and April trying to save the glee club.  a valiant effort that doesn’t matter. Too bad it didnt... could’ve saved us from going back there in season 6 oops

[isometimeswritesomethings]

34, 69, 11, and 55 for the ask thingy :)

Thanks for the ask!!

11.  What song/album/band/artist always brings back memories for you

Oh boy, ok so everytime i hear Invincible by Muse it reminds me of this one boy I went to school with. And everytime I hear California Waiting by Kings Of Leon it reminds me of when I saw them and they sang it and it was incredible. I have a really strong sense memory thing with music.... There’s a lot of songs which mean a lot to me because they remind me of people, or places...

34. A ten song playlist on ____

Since theres no specification I’m just gonna give you the 10 most recently added songs to my spotify playlist haha

- C’est La Vie - Stereophonics

- Make A Beast Of Myself - Twin Atlantic

- How Much Further - Stealth

- Hot Blood - Kaleo

- Be As You Are - Mike Posner

- My Rock n Roll - Dinosaur Pile-Up

- Traynor - Dinosaur Pile-Up

- Howl - Biffy Clyro

- Charlemagne - Blossoms

- Brace For Impact - Sturgill Simpson

55.  A song that starts with the first letter of your name

Leather Jacket - Arkells (funnily enough another song that brings back memories and is on my spotify playlist XD)

69. A song that reminds you of you

Crikey............ you know what - this is an emotional song for me it means a lot and recently someone asked me what my favourite song is and I said this one when usually i would just be like - oh gosh i couldnt never choose! but i love this song with all of me - it means a lot to me and reminds me of when I really challenged myself, and reminds me of how much support I have around me. So if you need a nice feel good song by a 90s British band, try Day We Caught The Train by Ocean Colour Scene

Thank you so much this was so much fun!!!!

Musical Asks! - Send some in!

[happy-out-loud-blog]

My Festival Tips and Tricks

It’s been a while... (sorry!). After completing some homework, I thought it time to revisit this. Calling it this as right now, I don’t even know what it is! Over time it should hopefully flow into a more direct approach. The actual point of this post though now. Whilst looking back over what I’ve posted before, I noticed what I wrote about pre-Leeds Festival and I never followed it up! Since that post, another one of my closest friends jumped on the bandwagon and joined us for the long weekend.  Here are my pointers for a festival (Especially Leeds) for newbies, and anyone who finds it useful! 1- Festivals are as safe as you make them. Before heading off to Leeds, many told me that I should be careful, protect my belongings at all times and be cautious. Definitely follow this advice! Maybe I went a bit overboard keeping my fanny pack on me at all times even whilst sleeping, but I had no trouble with personal and belongings safety all weekend. Just have your wits about you, don’t have anything valuable on obvious display and also, although you may think it’s wise, do not padlock your tent. It stands out more then and becomes apparent there’s something inside. You could come back to lost belongings but a tent intact, or lost belongings and a slashed tent as a robber has had to find a way in. 2- You will not see everyone you want to see (tragic I know). Upon seeing the lineup for Leeds, I started making a list of who I definitely wanted to see, others I wanted to see, and ones I would see if I had the time. I wasted my time even going down to ones I wanted to see. I had a list as long as my arm and in reality, I didn’t even see some of the ones I definitely wanted to see (Will be explained later). These are the acts I managed to see. -The Wombats -Good Charlotte -DJ EZ (10 mins) -Sigma -99 Souls -Russell Howard -BBK -Oliver Heldens (10 mins) -Wiley (10 mins) -Red Hot Chilli Peppers -Sleeping with Sirens What I’m actually trying to say is, it’s good to want to go and see lots of people. But have some definites. The rest, be wary that you may not get to them for some reason or another. Acts run from about 12pm-10pm, then at Leeds, Relentless (Dance) Stage goes from 10-3am and Piccadilly Party (Clue in the name) from 10-6am. With all these combinations, and the fact that camp life is one of the things that makes your experience, you have to be really choosy over whether spending a whole day in the arena is going to work for you.  My typical festival day: Wake up (The times varied, usually about 8am though) Contemplate why I stayed up so late (Piccadilly Party is so good, its a killer) Peel myself out of the tent I was in (Usually stayed up at my other friend’s camp, again, will explain later on) Decide on breakfast, whether it be belvitas, an attempt of making porridge with the tiny cooking stove (worked though!) or cereal with the UHT milk we kept reasonably cold with a frozen stew Get myself re-dressed (Pyjamas are unnecessary, FYI) Have a mooch, whether it be a stroll down trader’s alley or a wander to my locker (Incredibly handy by the way! They have a USB charging point inside!) Sit around camp, enjoy the laughs Think about tea (One day coming back from 99 Souls, I spotted Thai food and I was craving it that much that I ate my tea at about 3:30. Totally worth it) Get ready to go to the arena Go and see the acts I wanted to Return to camp (Everyone is incredibly drunk) “Lets go to Relentless!!” *Gets to Relentless, way too muddy and so many people you can’t even get in*... “Lets go to Piccadilly!” Have a fab night, roll into the tent at god knows what time, try and sleep. 3- (Cannot stress this one enough) Go with people you TRUST COMPLETELY I had a real journey at Leeds, and as weird as it sounds, I actually discovered a little bit about myself, and my friends. Possibly a defining point was the Friday night. I’d gone to my tent to sleep, I wasn’t feeling well whatsoever, but that night 2 of my definites, Fall Out Boy and The Wombats, and Biffy Clyro, someone that I wanted to see but it wasn’t the end of the world not, were on. I asked my friends to wake me up in time for Fall Out Boy. After waking up by myself and realising it was dark, I checked the time. Fall Out Boy had finished. I looked outside the tent and there was no one around at all. Breaking down into tears, I chucked my wellies on and started making my way to the arena to try and make it for The Wombats.I made it halfway through, but I wasn’t near the mood I should have been in. After being found by one friend, getting some form of apology, then losing the other friend so missing Biffy to try and find her, to then hearing that apparently they tried to wake me up but I told them to leave me and to go (None of this I remember), them trying to squirt water in my mouth but me rejecting it, now makes me realise: Why on earth did they not get medical attention if I was in that state? None of it made sense. But the moral behind this story is, please go with people that you love and trust and that aren’t going to leave you asleep in your tent, alone on the first proper night of a festival to go and see your favourite band. I think for now, this massive long list of tips is enough. I’ll do more over time, feel free to ask me whatever you want and I shall answer! Byee!

[carlculationinfinityinterviews]

FES Interview

Progressive three piece FES hailing from Peterborough features Pollyanna Holland-wing (Guitars+Vox) Tom-Hollandwing (Drums+Vox) and Matt West ( Bass ). FES deliver a refreshingly unique and atypical approach to songwriting. Their music features swiftly changing dynamics and transforming song structures that effortlessly displays a sense of fun and variety that  never fails to take the listener to new grounds without being extremely gaudy. FES are currently on tour to promote their split EP titled Sleep Less featuring the sonic triforce that is Exploder( previously titled Exploder Than You). 

Tell me about your individual music background and what inspired to you all to become musicians what was the first instance you can recall when you thought about playing music?

Matt: I've been playing the guitar since I was about 7. I can't really imagine doing anything else and I think i've been in bands solidly since I was about 14. I don't think I ever questioned pursuing music from a really early age so I don't think I had a specific moment where I was like "This is it, this is for me".

Tom: When I was in year 4/5 me and my neighbour started listening to a lot of bands like Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Green Day etc, and because he had just got a drum kit I thought it would make sense if I got a guitar. I also think my dad always regretted not learning the guitar, so he was keen for me to do it.

I went on to do my grades and whatnot and in year 8 I saw a second-hand drum kit in a shop, which again my parents were very open to letting me try out another instrument. I never had lessons for drums, I just slowly taught myself bit by bit over the years and when it came to starting a band with Matt and Polly, it made more sense for me to jump on the drums rather than the guitar so we could kick-start things faster!

Polly: I first had an interest in learning the guitar after watching Tom learn when I was about 7, that’s when I bought my first acoustic! I started off listening to bands such as Metallica and Nirvana but it wasn’t until I discovered singer-songwriter, Regina Spektor when I was about 13 that I decided to start writing my own music.

When did you realise that being a musician was the career path that you wanted to follow? What was the catalyst that caused this decision?

Matt: I grew up as a proper little metal head. Iron maiden back pack, long hair, wardrobe of black T-Shirts. The full works. I knew I wanted to be in a band as soon as I saw Iron Maiden live back in 2006. That was a big one for me.

Tom: I probably realised this around the start of secondary school, I just couldn’t imagine myself doing something not related to music. I would sit and play guitar for hours and hours a day and just couldn’t imagine my life any other way.

Polly: Music is always what believed I’ve been best at so ever since I started I wanted a career in it. I always thought I’d become a session musician when I was younger.

FES-Inside Out ( Directed and filmed by Lewis Cater and Nick Shield)

What was the first album or piece of music you sought out to purchase with your own money and what drew to towards that particular band/artist/album? What bands/artists/albums made you want to play in a band?

Matt: I think the first album I bought with my own money was Saint Anger by Metallica. I was in year 6 and I'm pretty sure the teacher confiscated it and gave it to my mum after class because it had a parental advisory label. Good times. Terrible Album though.

Tom: I believe the very first album I bought with my own money was Led Zeppelin’s ‘Led Zeppelin’. I was drawn to it purely because at the time all I was playing on the guitar was Led Zeppelin songs. The album I bought after this however was Shakira’s ‘Laundry Service’, because it’s a banger. Not even a guilty pleasure. But the band I credit to making me want to be in a band the most is Metallica. I adored all of their albums and I think I always will, but it is those guys who I truly credit for the position I am in now.

Polly: I had to think hard to remember this but I believe Biffy Clyro’s ‘Blackened Sky’ was the first album I bought. I fell in love with their album ‘Puzzles’ after a friend lent it to me and decided to go through their whole discography afterwards! As for who made me want to be in a band, I’d have to say Regina Spektor. She’s been my biggest musical influence to date and taught me I didn’t have to stay in any box. There’s no way I’d be where I am now without her music.

How would you describe the way you thought about music when you were first becoming musicians? How does that compare to what you want to create now?

Matt: I used to write in guitar pro5. I was obsessed with that software and I actually owe a lot to it! But back then in my mid to late teens, song writing as a concept was more about stitching riffs together than writing songs.

Tom: When I first started playing music, it was - as I’m sure it is for most musicians - very exciting. I was filled with anticipation of where I could go next with it because I knew I had a lot to learn about music.

But it is also completely different to how it is now. I’m not saying that it isn’t exciting now, but it’s a very different experience. My taste in music has altered tremendously from year to year and as I’ve understood how music works more and more throughout that time the ways in which I have conceptualised it has varied.

When I first started I just wanted to be alternative, whether it was heavy metal or grunge or whatever, I enjoyed listening to things that other people found hard to listen to. I still appreciated and liked other forms of music like pop, but I thrived on being different, it felt more fun to me. But as I’ve grown up I have come to appreciate other forms in a more rounded approach.

It’s no longer I am more this than that, I just look for the good in music no matter what it is really. I’m not saying I like absolutely everything, I just feel less need to only be listening to metal and grunge basically! However, I do credit my past experiences with music to where I am going now. I know that I could write some 3-song music and be done with it, but that’s not fun to me, hence why I love being a part of FES. We get to do whatever we want and not put a strict label on. Even though we fit in the math crowd, I wouldn’t label us math, because we’re not intentionally being as mathy as we can, we’re just doing what we like without following typical rules of music writing.

Polly: I thought of music as quite a simple concept when I was young. I pretty much followed a four chord progression for every song. Still, I had a lot of fun with it. I’ve realised over time that with music, the sky is the limit. You don’t have to stay in any box.

How would describe your approach taken with your instrument, what artists/bands/musicians/albums have lead to take this direction?

Matt: I only started truly playing the bass until FES. And since then, I have only really played our own material as a bassist. I suppose my influences from certain bands shine through the kinds of lines I write for FES but I wouldn't say that I am truly influenced by many bass players. I tend to try and say things like, "the bass should be more Blakfishy here" or I try to compliment to guitar or drums y'know.

I am definately a sucker for certain bass sounds and styles, particularly in the math scene. I think the bass lines from colour were incredible and pretty unique. But that was just colour.

Tom: If I’m honest, it’s hard for me to name specific inspiration when it comes to drums. It would be different if we were talking about guitarists, but I felt as I learnt guitar I just gained a good understanding of rhythm. When it came to playing in FES, Polly just hit me up with some riffs and I just went with whatever I matched it with and improved on it until it was something I was satisfied with. Saying this, the first drummer who stood out to me was John Bonham.

I believe he was ahead of his time for the band he was in, and he played like no one else did in that era. I always think of the song ‘Good Times, Bad Times’ for his use of kick control in those gaps, as far as I’m concerned no other drummer was playing like that and that resonated well with me.

Polly: Over the past few months people have mentioned artists my guitar playing reminds them of and I think a lot them do subconsciously shine through in my playing. Artists like Paramore and Biffy Clyro. But if I’m honest I believe I’ve grown as a guitarist after watching Tom play for over a decade. Other bands that have influenced my playing are Blakfish and Fishtank.

As for vocally, obviously Regina Spector is a HUGE influence behind my melodies, followed by others like Fiona Apple, Hop Along and Alanis Morissette. I think my main aim is to make every melody, both in my guitar and vocals as hooky as possible

FES-Tongue Tied ( Noise Cabin Session ) 

How do you maintain your proficiency as a musician and push yourself to venture on create new ideas and challenges?

Matt: I listen to Polly and try to keep up!

Tom: I teach music in both primary and secondary schools as well as privately, so that reeeeally helps me keep on my toes, especially when it comes to theory. I’m really grateful that I get that out of my work. Other than that I love practising anyway and will most of the time I have free.

Polly: I definitely find guitar difficult so I find I have to practice pretty much every day to stay on my toes. Often I have practice for hours at a time just to be able to sing and play one riff at the same time! It’s a frustrating process but it’s a satisfying outcome which I love!

What did you learn, practice and listen to when developing your skills as a musician, what steps did you have to take to play the music that you have written? Do you have a practice method that you work towards?

Matt: I used to be all about metronome / scale practising. Being a metal guy I was really into alternate and hybrid picking so I was determined to get real good at that for a while. There is a Protest The Hero song call "C'est La Vie" which I was real pleased with myself for playing! But I'm terrible at it now because I don't even use a plectrum anymore! #Basslife

Tom: In terms of song writing, I always used a programme called guitar pro 5, something that Matt used a lot too, as did many of our music friends back in the day. I credit the 10 years I spent on that programme to my song-writing and especially my understanding of rhythm. Writing drums before I could actually play the drums made venturing onto the actual kit a much easier process than what it probably would’ve been had I not used it in the first place. Other than that, getting home from school and then playing guitar with my neighbour and sisters until I went to bed probably helped.

Polly: Really I believe I started peaking at guitar after I started listening to Math Rock back in early 2016 just before I started the band. I was hugely into Blackfish’s album ‘Champions’ and Signals at the time. In my teenage years I would play music with my brother and sister all the time so that helped with my musical development.

How did FES come to form and how does it compare to playing in previous bands? What did you want to achieve this time around when forming a band?

Matt: We lived together for 2 years and Polly was working on a new project that eventually roped tom into and then me. It took a while before it became something that looks like FES now.

For me and Tom, where our previous band was a 7 piece Skacore band called Leroy's Mama, being in a 3 piece was kind of a revelation. We had a lot of fun in that previous band and probably had a lot of potential but we made loads of mistakes and I think it takes a few bands for you to work out what you're doing with them. This one was where we said "we're actually gonna try and do this properly this time".

Tom: Me, Polly and Matt moved in together just outside of Peterborough and we knew that something musical would happen. We didn’t set out to start a band, but as we lived together longer we realised that we understand each other very well musically so it made sense to get something cooking. I’ve been playing music with Polly since primary school too so I’m not afraid to tell her when I think something is bad and vice versa, and I could say the same to Matt, having been in multiple bands with him before. It’s funny though, because as a group we started off playing reggae music as we all have a deep love for it.

However in time this transitioned into whatever you want to call what we’re doing now, but it certainly isn’t reggae! My previous bands were great, I loved being in them, but they have taught me a lot about what it takes to be in a band and keep going. I’m not saying I know exactly what I’m doing, because I don’t, not by a long shot. But I, like Matt and Polly, have had a lot of learning curves with previous bands and projects and it all helps lead up to where I am now, and where I am going to be in time to come. I know for sure there are still learning curves ahead!

Polly: We all lived together at the time and I was going through a bit of a rough patch and needed a way to get out all my emotions . So writing angry/sad songs was originally how I achieved that. Before FES I was in a sibling band. I’ve always been comfortable telling Tom when an idea of his doesn’t quite resonate with me but it’s something I’ve had to learn to do with Matt. Although, 99% of the time their ideas are on point!!

How are the songs in FES written? Please describe this from A to B. What does each member bring to the band in this part of the process?

Matt: Most FES songs come from Polly. She will write riffs / melodies / lyrics at various stages of completion and then we put our individual perspectives into the mix. It's kind of a healthy way to do it. It is focused and lets each of us play to our strengths as me and Tom get to look at it and pull it apart and put it back together.

Tom: Every song typically starts with Polly. She is our main songwriter. She brings ideas to the table and then me and Matt bounce of them and we keep going, sometimes for weeks or months until we have a somewhat finished product.

Occasionally me and Matt will bring a riff to the table and Polly will branch off from that. Like for example, Matt started off ‘Talk It Out” with that 6/8 bass line, and I wrote the first section of ‘Flesh Out’ and then we carried on from there. But mostly, it’s Polly who does the main bulk and then the band fleshes it out (literally why the song is called Flesh Out by the way).

Polly: I typically write the base of the songs. I the write the riffs, chords progressions and lyrics and then bring it to Tom and Matt to help structure it better and make it more mathy usually. Although sometimes the boys will start off a song and I’ll finish it. Also, improvising in a band practice sparks a lot of ideas between us too.

How has this changed since you started playing in FES and how would you describe the musical impact each member has had on you?

Matt: We are definately not afraid to bin material anymore. I think we used to keep pretty much everything we wrote but there have been multiple times where we just have to admit a song has got away from us or sections that we think are cool simply don't work.

Polly has a cool saying she says all the time that is: Every line should be a hook. Which I think is a really cool way to approach writing, especially as a bassist. Adding my lines to her riffs has also allowed me to figure out what my style / sound / preference on the bass even is which is nice.

And with Tom, we have known eachother for like 10+ years and been playing in bands together for most of that. So I've learnt a lot from him about guitar playing and song writing. Annoyingly he has written my favourite bassline in any FES song which is the verse in 'Flesh Out' which does a little major third run. Screw him for that.

Tom: It’s pretty much the same now. It’s a process that seems to work for us so why not stick to it!

Polly: I believe the process is pretty much the same!

Tell me about the writing process for the new EP. What did you want to achieve in comparison to You Do You? How would you describe the progression of yourselves as artists creatively from the beginning to the end is the result different what you expected?

Matt: We wrote these two songs not too long after releasing You Do You I believe. I don't think we truly compared them and said we want to head in this direction more than any other but we kind of have a running joke where when we finish a new song, if it's not our new favourite FES song ever we bin it and try again. These 2 have been faves for a while.

Tom: When we wrote these two songs for ‘sleep less’, we had a lot going on in our lives in terms of mental health and relationships etc, and we just wanted to pour the passion of that into these two songs. For example ‘Inside Out’ is mostly centred around a bad mental health stage I personally went through in early 2017 and ‘These Days’ is mostly about the people around us, from Pollys point of view obviously, but it’s all relationship stuff. Even that song has mental health stuff in it too though. It’s a reoccurring theme for us! In terms of ‘You Do You’, the main thing I wanted to get out of these two songs was a sense of progression as a band.

I still don’t think we’ve found our true sound and I just wanted these two songs to be a reflection of how we’re changing as people as well as musically. I suppose I never had an expectation of what kind of musician I would be now, I tend to find I just go with the flow musically because I never truly know what I’ll be into next. I don’t want to say that FES will always have that typical ‘You Do You’ or ‘sleep less’ sound because I truly believe that next time we will sound different again, but right now I honestly don’t know how that’s going to turn out to be, but that’s also the exciting part about it.

Polly: The main difference between both EP’s is ‘You Do You’ was based around my own mental health whilst ‘Sleep Less’ is based around other peoples I suppose. The lyrics for ‘You Do You’ were typically written quite quickly in the moment, whereas I spent about a month writing for both ‘Inside out’ and ‘These days’. I always want to progress as an artist and don’t want to stay in any box but whatever we write, no matter what vibe, will always be FES because it’s us who’s writing it. If any of us left the band it would never be the same.

What was it like working with Iain Sadler., what was his approach to the songs you have written and how do you feel it would have turned out with another producer? How would you describe the process of working with a producer and would you say that there are any disadvantages or advantages to this process?

Matt: Ian was great to work with. We recorded 2 songs over 4 days and having that time gave us a lot of room for creativity. For example, we spent 2 hours hitting random objects in the studio on the last day, recorded Tom eating pringles and got a Microwave ping into 'Inside Out' which was pretty fun and made that track really come alive.

We loved recording You Do You with Will Cook of Classically Handsome Brutes fame, that experience showed we had a lot to learn and looking back we still think of things that we should have put on that record but didn't think of at the time. I would love to go back into the studio with Will and have a crack at those songs again! We only chose to work with Ian because personally, I like bands who change up production style on each release.

I like a sense of progression or movement. We went with Ian because of his work on Fish Tank's 'Henry' EP which is hugely influential on us as a band.

It was important for us to find a producer with a real creative input when making a record. We affectionately call Will Cook the 4th FES all the time so I think that would make Ian the 5th! He brought a lot of influence, especially regarding tones, that just made the songs sound huge!

Tom: We loved working with Ian. I think within the first half an hour of sitting down with him it was obvious to us we had gone with a goodun. It was a little scary beforehand having never met him before, but he understood our songs instantly and knew how to bring them to life in ways that we both wanted and didn’t expect, in a positive manner of course.

It’s hard to say what it would have sounded with another producer because I suppose we’ll truly never know. We often get described as being quite punky live, so perhaps that element of us would’ve shone through more, as I wouldn’t personally call us that punky on ’sleep less’. However, maybe others would, I don’t know, it’s all subjective.

Polly: It was great! He’s obviously very experienced and has worked with many well established bands already so I felt confident from the get go walking into his studio. Ian was quite experimental with ‘Inside Out’. We found random items around the studio to hit which definitely added to our sound. If you listen carefully you can actually hear a microwave which never would’ve ended up in the song if it weren’t for Ian!

What made you want to release a split EP with Exploder Than You?What are you also looking forward to with your upcoming tour?

Matt: We were not originally intended to release a split at all. Back when we released 'You Do You' in March, Christie (Manager of Rabbit Ear Records) wrote a really lovely review of the EP and we got to talking. Our plan was to release a solid A and B side this year on Rabbit Ear and from knowing exploder pretty well and obviously they being on Rabbit Ear, it just made sense!

Tom: It was actually Exploder’s idea to do the split in the first place. They coined the idea to us at our EP release for ‘You Do You’ at the Cornerhouse in Cambridge back in March 2017 I believe.

However, we were over the moon about them saying that because they were one of the main bands we were listening to just as we were initially thinking about putting the band together, and to have it happen so fast was pretty amazing!

For me, it’s just the tour in the first place. Over the last 6/7 years I have played loads of shows and the odd festival (nothing major however), but I have never toured before, so this is a first. Same thing for Polly and Matt too.

Other than that though we’re psyched to be hanging out with Exploder as we’ve only met them 2 or 3 times I believe. Also we will be meeting our lovely label manager Christie for the first time too! We’ve chatted loads over Skype and whatnot so it kinda already feels like we’ve met, so I often forget that we haven’t, so that’s something nice to look forward to.

Polly: I’ve always been a huge fan of theirs, even before FES was a thing. I love how they capture emotion through their instrumentation, they literally give me goosebumps every time I listen to them. They make me feel feelings I never knew existed.

It’s my first tour ever, so just getting the typical experience of playing every night and being in a different city everyday will be awesome. Getting to hang with Exploder and meet our Manager will be very sweet too!

FES, Exploder and Rabbit Ear Records Manager Christie O'regan 

What is the process for writing lyrics in FES? Are you  writing from personal experiences or subjectively about situations you are describing or have witnessed? Is there a method that you use? Where does the lyrical inspiration come from on Sleep  Well and how is that different from You Do You?

Matt: This is one for Polly but I know that she writes from experience about all sorts of subjects. A lot of our lyrics focus on mental health or anxiety as all 3 of us have dealt with that. There’s also a lot of Buffy references.

Tom: Polly literally writes all of the lyrics, and most if not all of them are very personal to her. When big things happen in our lives, that tends to be when Polly thrives on her lyric writing.

Sometimes when things are going well for us she complains that she has nothing to write about which is pretty funny really. Lyrically, inspiration is hard to differentiate between the two records just because I didn’t write them. Polly’s going to have to answer that one!

Polly: Writing lyrics is either a breeze for me or it’s the most frustrating thing in the world, there is no in-between!! I always write from personal experience and it’s typically about mental health. I tend only write in my room where I feel most comfortable getting out all my ideas. ‘Sleep Less’ is more about the people around me whereas ‘You Do You’ is much more about myself!

What does your setup consist of ? Does this differ to what you use live and when you are recording in the studio? ( Please go into as much detail as possible for the gear nerds out there)What are your personal preferences with your equipment, why do you use it in comparison to other companies/manufactures/string gauge/plectrums/drum heads/sticks/cymbals etc.

Matt: I play a 5 string fender Jazz bass. A lot of people ask why bother with the 5th string but I've never played a bass without it! I think it just opens up the fretboard and gives you the option of a lower B if you want it.

A few Pedals I run and recommend for bassists would the EHX Bass soulfood distortion. It's a subtle but gritty tone which isn't too overdriven. I use a EHX Knockout EQ as well for sections where I want to boost the low end to ridiculous amounts. And if you're a bass player, get a Sansamp. That goes without saying right?

Tom: in practice, 99% of the time I am playing on Matt’s electric kit. It works for us because we can practice at any time of the day/night and not piss off the neighbours. Other than that though, I don’t actually own a kit! I am still relying on kit shares due to being broke most of the time. I just get my practice on real kits at the schools I work at when no one is looking! I’m slowly making my way there though with my own kit, in fact it’s my birthday next week and I should be getting some Ziljian K hi-hats so that’ll be nice.

Polly: I still feel I’m trying to find my sound regarding my guitar pedals. It’s quite a simple setup at the moment consisting of an OCD distortion (my fave), a Tom’s Line chorus, a Cathedral reverb and a Marshall Echo Delay. I’m using a Black Star amp at the moment just because that’s all I have but ideally I’d like to buy a Fender amp sometime in the future. I actually use my brother’s Tele but I’m saving up for a Strat as we speak!!

What advice can you give to other artists and musicians that are playing in bands or thinking of becoming musicians? What is the best advice you have received that has helped you musically?

Matt: If you try to think of your band as a business it will help with how you decide what you want to achieve. Every decision you make matters so you have to think about doing what and when will help you achieve as much exposure. We started out with a live session of 'Tongue Tied' and as a very first release of any of our music it did wonders for establishing us.

Tom: The main thing I would say (as I would want this said to me at an early stage) is not to expect things to happen straight away. Unless you get lucky things will not turn out the way you want, a lot of things will just out-right fail too. But you have to treat them as learning curves and power on using your new knowledge to your advantage.

Otherwise, you will give up and that’s the dream is well and truly over. Most things come down to networking and who you know and making good use of the sources around you, but those contacts aren’t gained overnight, you have to give it time and keep trying. We’re still doing it massively ourselves!

Polly: Don’t leave after you’ve played your set (unless you absolutely have to)! It comes off as rude and also it’s the best way to network. It’s also the best advice I’ve been given!

What are you currently listening to and what was the last band or piece of art that surpassed the limits of what you thought was possible in a creative?

Matt: I am either listeniong to tons of math. So Ganglions Thirsty EP, Exploder, Dananananakroyd. But also tons of Hip-Hop like The Four Owls and B. Dolan. Anderson Paak's Malibu has not left my recently played list since it's release. That's a killer album.

Tom: A the moment there’s not much in particular that I’m listening to. I usually will come across something I like then whack it into a playlist and put it on random. However, particular bands I’m listening as of the last few days are: Owane, Led Zeppelin (funnily enough), Darwin Deez, Delta Sleep, Exploder, Hiatus Kaiyote & Submotion Orchestra just off the top of my head. Although I’m feeling another Sufjan Stevens session coming along soon… his work, especially his record ‘Illinois’ makes me feel things!

I’ve been listening to an artist called Owane again recently, I discovered him years ago but I’m listening to him again just in the past few weeks. He started off as a bedroom guitarist, but now he’s releasing records, all recorded himself, and I would describe it as technical electro-jazz with metal influences, but simultaneously not metal at all. I don’t know, I just really like him and I believe he’s not given as much credit that he deserves, so there ya go :)

Polly: Recently I’ve been listening to Marika Hackman’s new album. It’s a banger! I also have to agree with Tom though when we discovered Sufjan Stevens’ ‘Illinois’ last year. It’s a concept album and it blows my mind and I understand it a bit better every time I listen to it.

You can stream and purchase Sleep Less Here:

https://xpldr.bandcamp.com/ http://flatearthsocietyuk.com/album/sleep-less

Make sure you follow Fes, Exploder and Rabbit Ear Records in the links below:   https://www.facebook.com/FESuk/

https://www.facebook.com/xpldrrrr/ https://www.facebook.com/rabbitearrecs/ https://www.rabbitearrecords.com/

Get yourself out to see them on tour:

October 26th - Darwen: Exploder, FES, May The Night Bless You With Heavenly Dream http://bit.ly/2wkzGpi

October 27th - Sheffield: Exploder, FES, Ganglions and Mathletics http://bit.ly/2wkj7tL

October 28th – Leeds: CLASSICALLY HANDSOME BRUTES, Exploder, FES and Mathleticshttp://bit.ly/2wkR7pX

October 29th - York: Fat Spatula, Seatbelts - Falcon Tap http://bit.ly/2wkQAnI