this is what bart did when he heard that chris and claire got engaged

thank you to all of you for your lovely emails and messages. there will be a party and yes you can wear HATS
lots of love, chris and claire x x x x x x

FOOT VILLAGE - the village pound tour!

For all our west coast buds out there, go check the new currency!
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Mon Feb 16 - Los Angeles, CA at Pehrspace w/ Puppy Dog, E&E, Man's
Assassination Man (members of Mae Shi)
Wed Feb 18 - San Francisco, CA at Bottom of the Hill w/ The Drums
(member of Coachwhips), T.I.T.S.
, Casey and Brian
Thurs Feb 19 - Portland, OR at Dekum Manor w/ Experimental Dental
School, Magic Johnson, & Pete Swanson (ex-Yellow Swans)
Fri Feb 20 - Seattle, WA at Chilladelphia w/ Magic Johnson, Alaskas
Sat Feb 21 - Oakland, CA (Club Sandwhich event) at Heco's w/ Social
Junk, Nero's Day at Disneyland, High Castles
Sun Feb 22 - Davis, CA at a House Party w/ Ghost to Falco, Dead Western

No Honestly It Was This Big

HOW TO TAKE GHOST PHOTOGRAPHS

Here's some great tips for taking the perfect snap of some paranormal entity!
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1. Ghosts are not just in haunted old buildings. Ghosts are almost everywhere in one form or another. So don't be afraid to take photos at the mall or out on a busy intersection at night, or anywhere else for that matter.

2. When you take photos at night, let's say in a cemetery etc. make sure you have you camera set for night filming. If your camera has this setting, please use it otherwise your photos might come out to dark or fuzzy.

3. Always take photos of something and not just a clearing. Having a background image such as a tombstone, tree, building etc., It adds to the quality of the photo and allows mild light reflection for best possible results.

4. Take lots of pictures! Takes photos of anything & everything with a good background image. The odds are good that you will capture an anomaly if you take at least 50 pictures on your hunt. Then again, you might just get some great stuff on your first roll, you just never know.

5. When taking your photos, make sure to avoid shinny surfaces. The shine from a glossy tombstone or pane of glass etc. can cause anomalies that can appear to look like ghost mist, fog & orb shapes. Oh, and never try taking photos through a glass window. It's just to easy to create shapes that aren't really there. Not worth wondering if it was created from the glass or not. Old glass is the worst.

6. Make sure your camera lens is clean at all times. Again, this can cause anomaly type images to appear. If the lens has a smudge it can easily show up on several pictures and can look like an anomaly, so look for that sign. Try to always keep your lens spotless.

7. Make sure you know where your camera strap & lens cover are at all times. These can appear as a vortex or other ghostly images if left to dangle free from the camera. If your thumb or finger is in the way of the lens it can cause this same effect.

8. Make sure long hair is tied back. Hair can also appear as a ghostly anomaly. Strains of hair can look like orbs in motion as well as ghost energy.

9. Completely avoid taking photos when conditions are windy, foggy, rainy, dusty and where it's snowing or when moisture is in the air. All of these conditions can cause images to appear that look exactly like orbs and ghostly anomalies.

10. In cold weather make sure your breath is not affecting the photo results. Exhaled air in cold weather can appear in front of the lens to create all sorts of strange elusions including mist & orbs shapes.

11. A condition called "Lens Flair" produces strange effects in your photos. To avoid this do not take photos in the direction of the sun. Also, never take a picture in the direction of any direct light source. Preferably have all light sources away from you or even behind you when snapping your photos.

12. Talk to the ghosts. When you enter an area that you want to photograph, such as a cemetery, follow these steps: Walk around the area for about 15 minutes before doing anything else. As you're walking around, clear your mind and think only good thoughts. (Ghosts can sense your feelings and read your thoughts) After 15 minutes, recite the following statement or something similar. "Hi, my name is ______, We have come here to take some pictures of you as ghosts in order to show & document that there is life after death. We have only the best of intentions. We are not here to do any harm and we will only be here long enough to take our photos and then we will leave. Our only request is to take a picture of you, any of you! Thank you so much. I'll begin taking pictures now......thanks. Take all the pictures you think you need to and start heading back to your car. On the way, stop one last time and say: We are leaving now, just in case I didn't get any pictures of you on film can I take just 5 more pictures of this monument (or whatever) and would one of you mind posing for me in these very last photos? Take five more photos and then say: Thank you so much for putting up with me & my group.....we enjoyed being here in your company and am grateful for any photos you have allowed us to have of you..........thanks again, bye. If you were able to get some good pictures and you proved your good intentions to the ghosts.....then you will be welcomed back on your return visit. :)

13. Most ghost energy will appear in the air from two to ten feet above the ground. So focus a portion of your attention at that level but don't limit yourself totally to it. Ghostly phenomena can and will also appear above your head at times so be sure and snap some random shots up above at times. Note: in a buildings they can appear at any level of the structure and at any height.

14. The odds of encountering an evil spirit are slim to none but here is the counsel concerning them. Don't go hunting for evil spirits and DO NOT dare them to come around. If you hear or see a sign of evil spirits you should leave immediately.

15. Avoid mirrors or even taking photos in the general direction of a mirror. The camera flash can create a flash in the mirror that can produce a variety of effects including vapor, mist & fog.

16. Try following your instincts when taking ghost photos. If you have a particular inclination to snap a photo in a particular direction or at a particular object, do it. Trust your feelings an as you do, your abilities to sense ghosts should increase.

17. Ghosts are quite often attracted to people and will follow them around. So include people in the photos you take. Tip: When taking photos of others try to include enough space to one side of the picture and above the heads of those in the photo to capture any anomalies present. Remember the purpose is to catch anomalies and people together in the same photo. Here's another trick to use when ghosts might be following you around......put the camera over your shoulder and snap a picture behind you. This can be an effective technique at times......trust me.

18. The best time of the year for capturing ghost images on film are in the colder months when electrostatic energy is at it's highest. These months being October through February. You can capture any kind of ghost type on film at any time of the year but the above mentioned months just increase your odds is all. Orbs however, don't seem to be affected by seasons and are by far the easiest anomalies to capture on film.

19. Remember your flash limitations. A flash can only be useful for up to a certain distance. Normally within 15 feet. So if you are in a cemetery at night and take a picture of a mausoleum 30 feet away, the image will be hard to view and a bit washed out, as well as any anomalies present. Important note: The flash will help highlight the anomaly if the background image is within the the range (15 feet). Note: A flash attachment will increase your range if you desire to use one.

20. Best places to take pictures: Some places are more haunted than others. Some typically haunted locations are cemeteries, old buildings, including old hotels, houses, hospitals, schoolhouses, and churches. Other good spots are theaters as well as any historic part of a city. Use your imagination and see what works for you. Just remember the best rule of thumb is to include places that are rich in history on your investigations. That's the basics in a nutshell.......study and know them well and you will be well on your way to capturing strange phenomena on film in the near future. I might add, once you start seeing the fruits of your labor, you will be hooked! And life will no longer be the same for you as it was before. Ghost hunting is a great hobby and can be a truly fulfilling one as well. We wish you the best of luck in your endeavors!

All lovingly supplied by http://www.ghoststudy.com

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Favourite Band Photos Pt. 4 - Soft Cell

Favourite Band Photos Pt. 3 - XTC

UTR in Hustle London Zine

Jess Holland asked us to contribute a guide for setting up the best show for her new zine called Hustle London and this is what we came up with! Hustle London is a really awesome paper zine featuring articles on music, Percy Bysshe Shelley, lost film classics, Philip Roth and much more so totally track down a copy and if you want to contribute something write her at: hustlelondonzine@gmail.com
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Favourite Band Photos Pt. 2 - John Maus

Chatting With CHOPS

So Chops did an interview with Hannah Gregory for Plan B but only a lil bit was used in the end so we wanted to publish here the whole transcript - ENJOY!
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PLAN B: "Ah, you sweet little rogue, you! alas, poor ape, how thou sweatest! Come, let me wipe thy face; come on, you whoreson chops: ah, rogue! i'faith, I love thee..."

Explain your choice of quote/ your affiliation with the words of Tudor England via the most renowned dramatist of our isle and his expectant punctuation...

CHOPS: Gratifyingly peppered between his illustrious punctuation, the Great Bard excelled in the esteemed art of the pun-down; complex word play often dismissed as a simple and unsophisticated form of humour. Puns require a natural, instinctive reaction; explaining a joke weakens the punch, and that’s doubly true of puns, which rely on a sudden link being made between two ideas that have previously been completely separate, or with conflicting meaning. This is a highly metaphorical insight, which creates a satisfactory poetic basis on which to introduce readers to the collective mindset of CHOPS during our infancy.

That was an awkward one to start, some more straightforward info/influence stuff:

Influences: Musical: This is the trade-secret to our sauce, and we must keep the lid on. You can taste it when it's on the plate.

Influences: Non-Musical (books/people/food stuffs/miscellany): We take huge influence from the great literary works of Thesaurus and Google Search, and fall mercilessly at the service of anyone who will cook us a good meal. Imagine us, if you will, as a river; a mighty force of erosion, yet confined within the valley to meander toward a vast ocean and a destiny of evaporation, all the while being fed by the tributaries of inspiration from our surrounding slopes.

Idols: Moz was once physically ejected from Manchester McVities Factory, on the search for his hero, Julien Pike, inventor of the HobNob. Unaware that the factory only made Jaffa Cakes, Penguins and Digestives, and that McVities had purchased the recipe from Mr Pike in the early 1980s, Moz was left feeling rejected and deflated. Since then we have learned not to elevate people to such high status.

Expand on your appointed band roles (Moz - conspiracist, Leon - Voice of Reason, Dom - actuality facilitator)

We have never discussed, elected or dictated any specific roles, besides the obvious selection of our own instruments. We exercise a sporadically persistent, shambolic sense of collective organisation and open-ended contingency. Rather than being defined tasks, the descriptions you have selected correspond to particular character traits.

Please provide one version of the band's formation.

CHOPS was a half-baked worm eaten by the early bird of 2007. The three of us placed the bun in the oven at the turn of the millennium, baking feasts with our Leeds based DIY label/gigs/arts collective (Chinchilla), setting up house gigs and squat parties, recording and sound engineering, playing in bands like Quack Quack, Two Minute Noodles, Massive Heron, Sense Or This?, Inecto School, Eagle Eye, and guesting with Cowtown, Action Beat, Chrome Hoof, The Damo Suzuki Network, etc. Even if you ask him nicely enough, you will struggle to discover the name of the famous stadium indie rock band Moz used to play for - the mysterious people in his history responsible for him burning all ties with the Music Industry, and catalysts for his many subversive plots. Dom has driven the equivalent of 6.2 times around the Earth since May 2006, as chauffeur, tour-guide and gourmet sous-chef for many travels, with many bands. CHOPS is the sensible, illogical, incomplete conclusion of three similar and conflicting responses to our various experiences.

Be honest, is CHOPS just one glorious excuse to have lots of messy, justifiable fun?

It would be more accurate to say three excuses, though excuse is the wrong word as it's totally unnecessary to justify having fun. We've ridden a learning curve. CHOPS gives us the possibility to get involved in situations we're not familiar with, and experience the unexpected.

Do you enjoy acting-up live/ how would you describe your live performances?

Our first live performances were enjoyably idiosyncratic as their own uncertain voyages, though we can at least lay claim to have used a degree of control to restrain and make some sense of what we were creating. Forgetting the necessary theatrics of Moz's drumming, and a certain amount of mischief or over-exuberance when the right occasion brews, we would be mildly offended if people think we're acting-up, because it's not that... we're just out to encourage a welcoming, baggage-free, convivial situation. When we realised we could recreate an improvisation recorded for the Upset The Rhythm 12”, we gradually introduced structure and have begun to employ other classic song-writing techniques. It feels like our enthusiasm for achieving something more consistent and concise has replaced the nervous thrill of recklessness with a more dignified euphoria.

What is the best thing to be doing/ wearing/thinking of whilst listening to CHOPS?

We direct you to this essential notation from Anthony Phillips' rarely available self-help cassette, released several years after his recovery from leaving Genesis due to stage fright in 1970; "..... and relax.... ... let your haircut down... brush aside the stranglehold of faux-intellectualism and machinery of your entertainment ... hold hands with your friend, feel the safe reassurance of a shoulder to lean on...... drift away from thoughts about your next bill, the list of chores, nagging responsibilities.... take some time to forget about what's coming next, or what already exists, because you already know where this world is leading.... perhaps we can all take something from the moment of calm.... take joy in the simple pleasures of life, such as a peaceful gathering of friends celebrating nothing in particular... perhaps we can allow those basic moments of happiness to make a difference to how we relate to strangers and the decisions we make during our lives....".

Future prospects and pasts: Please give some indication of where you'd like to go/ send your sound to, and one or two anecdotes of where your sound has come from/how it has come about.

We have begun to write music for the first time, rather than being intentionally clueless and meandering into it at various unexpected junctures. We still have the three way tugging of each other's musical tastes, but it's a much more positive vibe now that we're structuring songs around our strengths, while still allowing some room for the possibility that it will spill over into something unexplored. We're just at the point where we need to work out how to record the new songs for an album. As a whole, it's more propulsive and danceable than we ever used to be; it was a slow dawn for us to realise we are happy to allow the tone and melody to sing out, instead of washing it out in persistent concentrationspanlessness. The end result will hopefully consist of us savouring several more hours spent on the M1.

Favourite Band Photos Pt. 1 - Mick Flower & Chris Corsano

NEW SUMI UTR INK BAGS

Tired of walking around with armfuls of books and music whilst holding your house keys in your mouth? Hang on where's my wallet? Fear not as we have just had some new Upset tote bags manufactured > whooo! Going on sale soon through the website, here's a sneaky peek!
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THE SINGING, RINGING TREE

Thank you for pointing the way Mat!
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LISTEN UP!

So yes! 2009 greets us with hands of sunshine and we all step forward into the future - exciting non? Over the holiday break we all became obsessed with a cavalcade of new and old musics here's some of the highlights for you to share, something for everyone maybe? Enjoy!
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DUCKTAILS - Dubious Liftings




SWELL MAPS - Let's Build A Car




BIRD NAMES - Damnation




PETER SCHILLING - Major Tom




BLACK BLACK - Emerald Forest




TALK TALK - Today




CLIFFORD T WARD - Home Thoughts From Abroad




THE OLD-TIMERZ - Oprah




FADED GRAVE - Sanity's Departure




PRETTY THINGS - Come See Me



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CLAPPY SHOE DEER ! ! !

LOVE YOU!
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