Well hello there, I trust you’re all well.

You’ll be pleased to know we’re back home safe and sound after 6 weeks of touring and although we’re all battered and bruised we’re still alive. A big thank you to everyone who came to see us and for all of the amazing messages we’ve been receiving over the last few weeks. It means a lot. And a big thank you once again to Trevor and Mido who guided us through it all with incredible patience, enviable wit and brutal sarcasm.

A couple of very exciting things I have to let you know about…
we’re posting a new track on Myspace this coming Thursday 6th March. It’s taken a while but Polar Swelling, one of the tracks on our new double A-side single, will be going up and feel free to let us know what you think. It’s a beast at six and a half minutes and we hope you enjoy it.

As well as Polar Swelling the single features new track D.I.L.E.M.M.A and will be released on Monday 7th April through the truly wonderful Dance To The Radio. It’s a limited edition (only 400 copies) 10″ vinyl and download and if you manage to bag yourself one of the vinyls you’ll also receive a special code that you can use to download our next single, New Franchise, for free which comes out in June. For everyone else New Franchise will be a download only single available through iTunes and all other good download sites.

I’ve probably forgotten loads of stuff but there’s enough for you all to be thinking about. There’ll be a test on Friday to see how much you’ve remembered.
Below is the new single cover, another great collaboration between the band and photographer George Coppock.

d.Grammatiques.xxx

So then, to pick up where we left off…

On Saturday we headed to Sheffield Students Union, a venue held dearly to the collective Grammatics heart. Trev managed not to ‘wash’ his jeans in the shower this time. Here’s me getting spooky on stage before soundcheck:

Sunday night in Leeds was always going to be a gamble. Luckily the gamble paid off and we all got completely trashed. Oh and the gig went well too…

Emilia and I pre-Whisky

The F Heads in Leeds

Monday morning came far too soon and we set off on a combined estimate of around 2 hours’ sleep. The journey was surprisingly picturesque as we traipsed the A roads to Norwich and a stop at Big Al’s Diner somewhere near Lincoln (’The Best Breakfast on the A17′) was a welcome break from trying to sleep sideways in the back of the van.

Emilia and Dom gaze longingly in Norwich… ?

Energised by a local support act in the shape of charming jerk-poppers The Kabeedies, the crowd in Norwich were pogoing by the end of our first song. I gave a sarcy introduction to ‘Broken Wing’ (with the best intentions) and ended up getting a mixture of applause, mutilated barbie dolls and stale hula hoops thrown back at me. All in good faith.

(Apparently, this was one of the racks at the aforementioned Liverpudlian Tequila bar. I don’t remember being there.)

Next, Bournemouth: another gruelling five hour drive of which I did absolutely none and slept the whole way. Sound problems onstage meant that for me at least, the gig didn’t go as well as it could have.
We made up for it with a spate of gear-trashing at the conclusion - unbeknownst to him, Dom managed to throw his snare drum at the menacing, tough-as-nails and unimaginably kind-hearted Futureheads tech, a man who goes by the name of ‘Bomber’.

Thankfully, he decided not to kill us and instead ended up another happy, drunken face at the end-of-tour party. The Futureheads shared copious amounts of champagne with us and we all ended up playing poker and dice back at their hotel suite (Jaff is a demon). Needless to say, it was an unforgettable experience.

The tour’s been a massively educational time for us and for me personally has been a huge honour, having been a fan of the Futureheads since I was 15 (a few years ago). If you’re reading this chaps, thanks for everything. Shoutouts also have to go out to Paul, Bomber, Andy (theirs), and Mido and Trev (ours), the unsung heroes of this whole thing.

And so we are to Stoke and beyond…

Peace out

xxx (Grammatics)

P.S. Here’s a link to a recent feature on us by Narc Magazine. The photo didn’t work on Myspace…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23377109@N05/2235547842/?edited=1

Also check www.rocksellout.com for a review of our Norwich show.

Welcome to the second instalment of our trilogy of Tour Diary Blogs.

We’ve learned a lot over the last week and a half, firstly that The Futureheads are the nicest guys in the world but mainly that you can drink an awful lot more than you think and not suffer from a hang over if you have a shower first thing in the morning. Two extremely valuable lessons!

After beginning the week in a very wet but enthusiastic Hull we made it over to Liverpool on Tuesday and had an absolute cracker of a night. I seem to remember some kind of Tequila bar where we blew all the money we made from selling t-shirts that ended in Rory violently throwing up. I must say a big thank you to the wonderful Miss Emily Lewin for use of her sofa and everyone who came out and made it such a good night.

Then we hit Preston and probably had the best gig of the tour so far. Not only that but Barry Futureheads gave a masterclass in how to deal with hecklers. Pure humiliation is the key and very entertaining it was too.

Mido and Trevor (the cynic and the optimist) are kind of like superheroes guiding us through all this and using their abilities to make it an awful lot of fun at the same time. We are eternally grateful.

Lastly an apology, due to events out of our control we were unable to travel up to the gig in Glasgow. We HATE cancelling gigs and just hope we didn’t let anyone down.

Much Love.

Grammatics.xxx

Cast -

Dominic Ord - Drums, Tour Managing, Temper/Optimism.

Owen Richards - Front man, Anaemia, Cynicism, Throatal Neurosis.

Rory O’Hara - Bass, Cannabis, Depression.

Emilia Ergin - Cello, Diatribes on Sweden, chit chat.

Mido - Sound Genius, Coffee, Experience.

Trev - Back line tech, Humour, ‘Treving’.

Rob Webb - Scribe, Sarcasm, The Man, The Legend.

Hello Grammaticians, the first leg of our tour supporting The Futureheads around the weirdest Uni’s in the UK is well and truly FIN. The good news is that The Futureheads are 100% geezer material and we’ve had no problems in the getting along stakes. We seem to have plenty in common…an appreciation of fine riders and lashings of northern wit are seeing us gel just fine.

Uxbridge was Emilia’s first gig as a Grammatic and she put in a sterling performance. The truth is, we’ve been heroically under rehearsed for this tour due to some wacky and quite baffling admin decisions that we’ll take no responsibility for. After four gigs we’re beginning to find our feet on stage…quite how Emilia has managed is beyond me, the Swedes are cut from a different cloth entirely and her life is a brave one.

Here are a few photo’s that we’ve taken so far. Believe us when we say there are some great ones on their way, we just need to take them off various cameras.

Emilia in the studio

Rider No.1. More to follow.

Trev setting shit up.

Gig no.1.

So, what the fuck is going on with this single? Well, it certainly WILL NOT be coming out March 3rd, but shouldn’t be hitting the shops too long afterward. Videos must be made, artwork designed and label shiz confirmed…the powers that be have thrown us off track once more. Anyway, both recordings have been in the can for some time and we’ll have them online as soon as it becomes viable to do so. We promise it will be worth the wait…

Grammatics x

We’ve not long been back from stuffing our faces with sausages wrapped in bacon and toasting the new year, but that’s not stopping us from getting out on the road as soon as we can.

As you can see we’re supporting The Futureheads on their UK tour throughout January. This is going to be our first ‘proper’ tour, ‘proper’ meaning that we’ll be away from home for long periods of time, staying in hotels of an eve and hopefully getting sandwiches and those little carrot sticks and dips when we get to the venues. To say we are excited would be a statement. A true one!

We’d love for anyone reading this to come along to any of the shows and say hello as essentially that is the main reason we are in this band, to meet fabulous new people in places that we’ve only read about in books. Like Hatfield.

You can buy tickets by clicking here and even though they’re at unions, you don’t need to be a student to come.

Also, watch out for our own headline shows to be announced very soon and don’t forget that our new double A-side single ‘D.I.L.E.M.M.A’/'Polar Swelling’ will be released on a Monday in March. Your guess is as good as ours.

Much Love.

d/GRAMMATICS x

p.s. We were very kindly mentioned in this weeks NME in their trends for 2008 feature. Supposedly things are going to get ‘grander’ this year which is good news all round.xxx

As I have now departed from the shore of the sea of Grammatics I would like to say my own fond farewell. Being in this band has been the most exhilirating and exciting venture for me and I have so many happy memories which will keep me smiling for years to come.

My personal highlights have been… playing Leeds fest in my big sunglasses as the sun set; recording over in Bridlington in a room with a mezzanine and a grand piano and laughing as Dom did a strange crotch dance and we played crazy golf on a cliff top; watching 11 year olds boogie on down to a Grammatics set in Dobb Cross Village Hall; getting the fright of my life trying to keep Dom awake as we drove back from Newcastle to York in the van; in the early days trying to learn my parts from Owen and Rory humming variously and incoherently and marvelling as Dom learnt whole drum parts from Owen singing “De-gah-de-ga-de-gah-duh-de-da-da-de-daa-de-daaah”; winking at Trevor when my mic stand would swing out of control on stage; relying on Rory to reposition my fringe for photoshoots; looking at Owen across a cold, crowded rehearsal studio and marvelling at his amazing, wonderful, original, artistic (you get the drift) way of doing everything he ever does.

I’ll miss it all, but only as a band member. I’ll be there on the front row of many gigs to come, getting to enjoy what most of you have enjoyed…

Love love love

Rebecca, ex-Grammatics.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

High Voltage, the much lauded, Manchester based fanzine has run a flattering ‘Introducing’ piece on Grammatics which you find by following the link below…

http://www.highvoltage.org.uk/fanzine/fanzine26.pdf

They also run a cool little independent label and you check their releases here

Much Love.
xxx

For those of you that don’t know, our wonderful, fabulous, talented, generous and down right gorgeous cellist, Rebecca Dumican, is leaving Grammatics.
She has an unhealthy obsession with teaching young girls and boys about the English language and we wish her all the luck in the world.
She will be playing with us one final time this Wednesday 12^th December when we support The Sugars at Brudenell Social Club in Leeds.
Anyone close to the band will know just how much she’ll be missed and we’d love for as many people as possible to make it down on Wednesday for the farewell.
Her replacement, Emilia Ergin, is already practicing with the band and will play her first live show in January ‘08. She’s Swedish, she’s absolutely insane and she’s unbelievably enthusiastic and talented. We’re very lucky to have her.

In other news…

We’ve finished recording the new single, a double A-Side featuring Dilemma and Polar Swelling. Recorded with our old pal James Kenosha at his Bridlington studio, the tracks are sounding so good I’m not quite sure how we’ve pulled it off.

The single will hopefully hit the shops around the end of February and will once again be available on 7″ and to download. As you can probably tell from the gig listing on the front of the Myspace we’re also booking dates around that time to promote it, including a few Club NMEs.

We’ll let you know when anything else exciting happens and hopefully see you soon.

Much Love

Dom.
Grammatics.xxx

Hey Folks…go to http://discover.drownedinsound.com/articles/2462315 for an interview with Dom and I…check it! Owenx

Evening campers! What a lovely day it has been. The pornographically gorgeous 500 7” vinyl of ‘Shadow Committee’/'Broken Wing’ arrived at the Dance To The Radio office today…Dominic and Ali Valium are hand-numbering the sleeves AS WE SPEAK. Anyhow, we are galaxies from disappointed.

In the pipeline -

The first review to come in for DTTR’s new compilation, ‘Out Of The Woods And Into The Trees’, appeared online today on whisperin & hollerin….check it -

http://www.whisperinandhollerin.co.uk/reviews/review.asp?id=5019

The comp hits the shops October 1st. We’re all becoming Americanised. I stubbed my toe whilst getting in the bath this morning and screamed ‘MUTHAFUCKA!’. This upsets me…It should have been a ‘Balderdash!’ or ‘Double-drat!’. The compilation will arrive in record outlets on October the first…

We’ve decided to bite the bullet and design some swag for you lot to consider purchasing. We’re thinking of getting American Apparel t-shirts and have some tasty designs in mind…the minute we have a minute when that minute doesn’t contain busyness we’ll get busy on some designs. Watch this muthafuckin’ (my)space.

We had a couple of nice mentions in the new NME student guide (free with NME this week) and a great review on Drowned in Sound for our Leeds fest exploits. Check it -

http://www.drownedinsound.com/articles/2345378

This has been Tha Grammatique…x