Henry's Cellar Bar in Edinburgh and why we like playing there, plus other news.

Over the past few weeks we've been doing exactly what we planned to be doing in August and September, mainly playing more gigs, pushing the album and recording for the next e.p. We have been lucky with gigs in Edinburgh, in that we're slowly convincing people to come and see us, and managing to hold it all together when we play. One of the highlights was a gig at Henry's in Edinburgh, a cool little venue near the centre of town, and one of the places we have always wanted to play. The gigs are run by a non-profit collective called The Raft, which includes Nora who does the sound at Henry's (and who had previously made us sound brilliant at a recent gig at The Ark) and Claire who books the bands and runs the door. It's a great place to play because it's tiny and the sound is really tight, it doesn't take a lot of people to make it look busy, you get beer tokens when you play, and it's run by quite cool people who are really into what they are doing. We had a riot, saw some mates that we hadn't seen for a while, and got talking to a few people including DJ Johnny Creamsoda who asked us to play at the launch of his new club Noriega’s Disco where on top of a few live acts he'll be playing 40 years of underground music - post-punk, DIY, C86, garage, punk, outsider and no-wave....



We've finished recording live favourite Science Division for the new e.p. which will sit with Khz, Chemical Burns and a new live band version of Mhz for the next release. Vic Galloway give the album version of Mhz a spin on his BBC Radio One introducing show from Scotland to promote some of the recent gigs, adding to an ever growing list of radio play we've received for Whipping Clowns.

Meanwhile our Sharkbatter Records buddies The Stark Palace are getting ready for their debut gig, bizarrely enough at a local town hall better suited to WRVS coffee mornings, wedding receptions, meetings of the traders association and performances from the operatic society. An odd choice, but perhaps perfectly suited for the bands delightful tunes about werewolves, eastern European scales and encounters with Santa. Three members of the Stark Palace also help out Vacuum Spasm Babies playing live, so hopefully some joint gigs are not too far off, as long as there is the opportunity for a nice sit down between sets.