Nova's basement

Last Sunday the girls held an intimate gig in Bermondsey Street Park.  There was a real concern that the weather wouldn’t cooperate the entire night and there was the incident with the ant hill… but overall it was a fantastic night.

People started to gather close to six and came equipped with blankets, wine, babies, dogs and (fortunately!) umbrellas. Papa Menzies came to the rescue at the last minute with stools for the girls that he procured from a nearby pub. We still aren’t sure how he sweet-talked his way into that one.

The girls started the night with Her James Dean and moved into their lovely cover of Sitting on the Dock of the Bay. There had been an original plan to play a couple of songs, drink some wine, then play some more. But the sky started to spit and they decided to move on with the set list to beat the rain, moving to a couple more of their own songs – Inside and Mercy – before doing their cover of Disarm.  They finished on Fiver, but the crowd (bless them!) insisted on an encore. The girls played Straw Song for them, and even though they hadn’t been rehearsing that one it sounded great.

The rain passed but people wanted to hear a few more songs. The girls repeated a few that had already been played at the audience’s request, finishing with a second playing of Her James Dean.

It was a fantastic night with good friends, good wine, good family and a great atmosphere. We sincerely hope that everyone who joined us had as much fun as we did that night. Thank you for being there.

And if you missed it… not to worry! The girls are playing The Slaughtered Lamb on Saturday 4 September.  Check out www.myspace.com/novasbasementband for all the details.

Tonight’s rehearsal has been simply amazing. The girls are really focusing on the set lists that they’ll be playing in the park on the 22nd (this weekend!) and at The Slaughtered Lamb on 4 September.

It is really cool to watch the girls rehearse. The smallest changes to the songs make a huge difference and all of a sudden they go from sound really good to just simply amazing. You can hear them getting stronger and stronger with every note they play.

Tonight they rehearsed “Mercy” for the first time that I had heard live. I’ve listened to the song on Last.fm and MySpace and I’ve even heard Amy play it at parties as a solo. I’ve always thought it a lovely song. But then you add Rachel’s voice and Fiona’s strings to Amy’s voice and guitar and suddenly the song is epic.

I can’t wait for more people to hear how they are sounding. The girls are really focusing on the sounds of the strings and creating shivers with harmonious vocals that resonate somewhere deep… maybe in the memory somewhere. Come see them this Saturday at The Slaughtered Lamb. You’ll hear exactly what I mean.

The rehearsal was fantastic. We were joined by Mike who was back visiting the UK and played keyboard with the girls for the last half of the rehearsal. There were a lot of hugs and a lot of laughs.

There will be a gig shortly after the rehearsal.  Nova’s Basement will be closing out a night of acts at The Slaughtered Lamb – a very chill and lovely pub near Farringdon. The doors will open at (time) and the girls will take the stage at 10:30. It is just a fiver for four bands. The promoter wants us to let you all know that the first 25 people will get a free shot of Jager (oh my)… so come early if you want in on that action.

Rachel, Fiona and I (I = Amy) finished recording a new EP recently. Last time we made an EP, we were a little a shy and kept it fairly quiet. This time however, we’re excited and proud. We wanna tell everyone about it but as it’s not quite ready to release, the next best thing is POSTCARDS.

So here they are. We’ve created a set of postcards to send to people who might be able to help us shout about our new tunes. I hope you likey.

Collage by Justin Goring. Photography by Justin Goring & Amy Wagner. Postcard design by Amy Wagner.

A few months back, we were tucked up in my loft room, sinking a few beers and tinkering with a loop pedal. What came out was the basis for a vocal round with words inspired by the dream dictionary’s definition of a crew at sea on a cold winter’s night. Here’s a quick edit of what happened from the perspective of a locked-off video camera.