Duffy Sings 'Happy Birthday' To We Are Scientists

BBC captured it! Watch the endearing clip below. Visit Duffy at her MySpace page.


MP3: Duffy - Warwick Avenue

We Are Scientists Visit Jools Holland

Enjoy their new ditty, 'After Hours', below. Download a WAS track at bottom of post.


MP3: We Are Scientists - In Action

We Are Scientists Announce UK Tour

All dates plus a WAS MP3 below:

12th April - Glasgow Barrowland
13th April - Aberdeen Music Hall
14th April - Newcastle Northumbria U.
15th April - Manchester Academy
17th April - Sheffield Octagon
18th April - Birmingham Carling Academy
19th April - Nottingham Rock City
20th April - Norwich UEA
22nd April - Southampton Guildhall
23rd April - Bristol Carling Academy
24th April - London Shepherds Bush Empire
25th April - London Shepherds Bush Empire

MP3: We Are Scientists - In Action

We Are Scientists Wish You A Happy Holidays

Watch their full YouTubed message below. Enjoy a WAS MP3 at bottom of post.


MP3: We Are Scientists - Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt

We Are Scientists Give Quickest Interview Ever

Hilarious or absurd? Hmmm, I'm torn. Watch the clip below and judge for yourself.

MP3: We Are Scientists - What's The Word? [alt link]

The World Of B-Sides & Rarities, #237

We Are Scientists - Live On KEXP

Setlist:
Lousy Reputation
Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt
Can't Lose
It's A Hit
The Great Escape
Textbook

Photo courtesy of BBC.

MP3: We Are Scientists - Live On KEXP

Robbers & Scientists Perform For NYC College Radio

CMJ reports: *Baruch College's radio station, WBMB, will host exclusive performances by dance-rock darlings We Are Scientists and indie faves Robbers On High Street at the campus' Mason Hall on September 28. Tickets for the WBMB Rocks! Concert, hosted by comedian Ted Alexandro, are on sale now for only $5 a pop, half off the anticipated door fee. Aside from the sterling headliners, the show also intends to introduce attendees to several fledgling acts in search of a wider audience, including vintage pop pioneers Lions Of Ido and underground groove collaborators the King Left. Warped Tour vets Coppermine will round out the diverse lineup.

WBMB, an entirely student-run rock station which broadcasts at 87.9FM, operates a full recording studio and an active music blog in addition to its on-air obligations. The upcoming show, intended to expand both the station's listenership and the musical tastes of its fans, proves once and for all that your don't necessarily need to drop out of college to get an education in rock.*

Learn more about WBMB here. Photo via Egigs.

MP3: Robbers On High Street - Crown Victoria + W.A.S. - What's The Word?

We Are Scientists Touring With Kaiser Chiefs

All dates below courtesy of We Are Scientists' MySpace bulletin from earlier today:

21 NOV --- Exeter Westpoint
22 NOV --- Bournemouth BIC
24 NOV --- Cardiff CIA
26 NOV --- Birmingham NIA
28 NOV --- Nottingham
30 NOV --- Manchester Evening News
3 DEC --- Sheffield Hallam FM
4 DEC --- Hull
10 DEC --- Newcastle Metro
14 DEC --- London Earls Court

In the message, the trio also hints at a possible album title for their upcoming release - What # of $ Do That Cost?... I surely hope they're joking. Catch up on all things WAS here on their MySpace page.

MP3: We Are Scientists - In Action

We Are Scientists Still Heart Pseudonyms

Under the quasi-secret (isn't everything these days?) name of Beat Up Old Fellas, We Are Scientists performed a 10-song set of entirely new material last night at Brooklyn's Luna Lounge. Did any of you slutloyals make it out to the gig? If so, any highlights?

Last night's setlist below.

'Spoken For'/'Best Behaviour'/'Rush N' Attack'/'Altered Beast'/'Impatience'/'Let's See It'/'Lethal Enforcer'/'Dinosaurs'/'Dig Dug'/'Tonight, Tonight'

On Saturday, the band will perform with The Spinto Band under the same moniker. In case you forgot, this isn't the first time WAS has performed under a fake name. Just last year the band infamously opened for Art Brut under 'Art Brut 47' at Knitting Factory (Jen's review of that ridiculously fun show can be found here).

MP3: We Are Scientists - What's The Word?

The World Of B-Sides & Rarities, #4

We Are Scientists - Hoppipolla

This WAS track is a cover of a Sigur Ros tune, which can be found on their album, Takk. The tune, which roughly translates into 'jumping into puddles', was used in advertisements for everything from the BBC to The World Cup and stands as one of Sigur Ros' most successful singles to date.

The We Are Scientists acoustic cover of 'Hoppipolla' can be found on their B-sides collection, Crap Attack, and was recorded upon a visit to BBC radio in early '06. A La Discotheque describes the cover as 'strangely beautiful' and we happen to agree wholeheartedly.

MP3: We Are Scientists - Hoppipolla

We Are Scientists Roll Out 'Crap'!

Via NME: We Are Scientists are set to release 'Crap Attack', a CD/ DVD collection of rare material.

The album, which is released on November 6, will feature b-sides, remixes and videos. 'Crap Attack' will also feature their versions of Sigur Ros' 'Hoppipolla', The Ronettes' 'Be My Baby' and Art Brut's 'Bang Bang Rock & Roll'. The DVD will feature videos for all 12 tracks from 'With Love And Squalor', a full set from their Shepherds Bush Empire gig plus band commentary.

The tracklisting for the CD is:

'Ram It Home'
'Surprise'
'The Great Escape' (The Silence Remix)
'Mucho Mas'
'Call Back Under The Sea'
'Hoppipolla'
'Bang Bang Rock & Roll'
'Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt Under The Sea'
'Sie Hat was Vermisst'
'Be My Baby'
'This Scene Is Dead' (Pete Predictable Remix)
'History Repeats'

Arctic Monkeys and We Are Scientists @ Roseland 6/14: Fight Night

Last Wednesday's Arctic Monkeys/We Are Scientists show continued my string of concerts where the audience members were made up of a shocking amount of youngsters. My curiosity got the better of me when a group of kids moved in front of my friends before Arctic Monkeys hit the stage, so I tapped one on the shoulder:
"Hey, I was wondering how old you guys are?"
"13". "14!" piped one of them.
"Wow, you guys are young to be into such good music. I certainly wasn't listening to this kind of stuff when I was your age (cue 'I saw the sign' by Ace of Base). How did you get into them?"
"Oh, I've been into them for ages." the leader tells me. "I've been getting NME since I was 11 and my mom is really cool."
"Awesome, thanks. Enjoy the show."
Only in NYC, where Grups abound, would an 11 year old subscribe to NME (not Spin, not Rolling Stone) and be taken, with all of his friends, to a sold out Arctic Monkeys concert. What a strange and wonderful city this is.


The opening act was New York's favourite sons, and The Music Slut's, We Are Scientists. Every WAS show I've seen, the audience has been really into the music- singing all the words and dancing. Not at Roseland however. I'm not even sure if anybody there knew who WAS were, but perhaps that was just my section. I chalk it up to all the kids and bridge and tunnel people present.

Also, who knew that Roseland was such a bridge and tunnel magnet? Perhaps it's the proximity to the midtown tunnel and path train. It left me yearning for my downtown venues and after the show, my crew and I quickly fled for the quieter streets of SoHo. The odd crowd also made for some uncomfortable confrontations. On my left, a rather large, biker type gentleman screamed "YEAH MOTHERFUCKER!" and "NEW JERSEY!" over and over inbetween sidling up to the NME boys in front of me and making rude jokes in their ear. Whilst on my left, the couple my friend and I were with got into an argument with two teenage girls who insisted on elbowing their way into our already maxed out space. Somewhere in there, I also found myself with arms open, trying to protect the NME boys from some old drunken fools who were winding their way through our section to the middle. It was all very distracting.

In any case, WAS put on a great set. Towards the end, Monkey Alex and Monkey Matt came on to show their tour mates some support and got a huge reaction from the crowd. Apparently from the back, the site of Matt and Scientist Michael dual drumming was a really cool sight.


Despite all the huge, and often sickening, hype around the Arctic Monkeys, they do put on a great show. That being said, however, their set Wednesday didn't start off very strong. During a pause in the middle, my friend whispered in my ear that he hoped that the second act would be better than the first. And then like make magic, it suddenly was. I don't have their setlist, but here's the Phoenix one. From what I recall, it was pretty similar:

1. Riot Van
2. The View From the Afternoon
3. Still Take You Home
4. You Probably Couldn't See the Lights But You Were Looking Straight at Me
5. Cigarette Smoker Fiona
6. Perhaps Vampires is a But Strong But ...
7. Dancing Shoes
8. Who the F--- are Arctic Monkeys
9. Bet You look Good on the Dancefloor
10. Red Light Indicates the Doors are Secure
11. From the Ritz to the Rubble
12. Leave Before the Lights Come On
13. Mardy Bum
14. When the Sun Goes Down
15. Fake Tails of San Francisco
16. Certain Romance

There were no encores. I've heard some grumblings about that but honestly, by the time AM was done, so was I.

So what have we learned today?
1. Avoid Roseland at all costs, unless you get to be in the photography pit or the VIP balcony.
2. Screaming "NEW JERSEY!" at boys from Britain will get you nowhere.
3. 13 year olds are a lot cooler than they were in my day...laddy.
4. If you get all up in my grill at a concert, I will fuck you up.

Watch We Are Scientists as they video diary their tour here.
Also, according to the Arctic Monkey's site (via TheModernAge), bassist Andy is now permanently out of the group and relief bassist, Nick, is in for the rest of the tour. I approve. Nick is cute. I was asked during the show, why I thought Andy wasn't there. I said fatigue my ass, he's probably fighting with the rest of the group. A Modern Age commenter though makes the accusation that he has a crack problem. But since when did that get you kicked out of a rock group?

We Are Scientific Boxers

New WAS video for your pleasure HERE! (quicktime)

I love it but hard to top "The Great Escape" video in my humble opinion.

If you are not seeing them with Arctic Monkeys on 6/14, be sure to check 'em out at the end of June at both Irving Plaza and Warsaw, respectively.

The Chalets, Art Brut 47 (We Are Scientists), Art Brut @ Knitting Factory 5/18: I Saw Eddie Naked....TWICE

From top to bottom, last night's show was outstanding.


First up were The Chalets from Ireland. They fit into the same vein of kitchy rock as Art Brut. Their schtick being their lead singers- two girls in 50's style dresses and heels doing light choreography. It's almost too adorable for words. The group has two male singers as well, one on bass and one of guitar. The back and forth between the guys and girls is well done, like a rocked out 'Summer Lovin.' I've been saying for the past few months how everything seems to sounds the same recently, so I was really pleased to actually leave the show of a new group and want to buy their cd.


Next up were We Are Scientists. You've all already read plenty of bloggers commenting about the group not covering any Art Brut songs, personally, I didn't mind. It's been a fair while since I've seen WAS so I was just excited to hear all the old tracks. Though yeah, it would have been cool to hear them sing one Art Brut cover. Despite my rapture for seeing WAS, my attention was incredibly distracted. In front of me at the stage were a group of girls, who looked like they were in high school but were drinking beer, screaming, taking millions of up close pictures of Keith, talking, hugging and throwing up the rock sign. I swear I wanted to drag them all out by their hair. It's cool that they were so into a really good band but seriously, have a little respect for the group you are there to see and the people around you. Perhaps I should write a guide for being a good concert go-er.


Ok, I digress. But no need to say how good WAS, erm, was. Their transitions were great, smoothly going into song after song and pausing every couple for the patented We Are Scientists banter.



Art Brut 47 (We Are Scientists) setlist:
Lousy Reputation
Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt
Can't Lose
Callbacks
It's A Hit
Worth The Wait
Cash Cow
Textbook
This Scene is Dead
Inaction
The Great Escape


They brought down the house, along with The Chalets and Art Brut onstage, for their final song 'The Great Escape.' All night was one big love fest between the bands performing. It made me jealous, I wanted to hang out!


I was going to title this blog: My New Favourite Band because Art Brut made me fall in love with them so hard last night. I have a bunch of their songs, and really like them, but live is a whole 'nother story.


Despite the weird mustache and little pot belly, lead man Eddie is damn sexy. I was such a sucker for the dramatic stage antics. And guitarist Jasper pointing crowd and staring at the crowd? So damned funny.


Somewhere towards the middle end, Eddie jumped into the crowd. It was great. Thankfully I wasn't under him like Miss Modernage was the first night. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but whilst crowd-surfing Eddie's jeans somehow came down and he lost his belt.


Once he was wrangled back onto the stage (note the wrangler), he had to run backstage and pull up his trousers. And then I blinked and he was back in the crowd running around before getting back to singing.


After the raukous finale of 'Good Weekend', Eddie left the stage but the band played on, giving some stage time to drummer Mikey, and the rest of the band to get some pointing action in. It was a great evening. Next time Art Brut are in town, go see them and don't be a fool like me and only catch one show.
_________________________________________
Check out Jerry Yeti at the 5/18 show with The Music Sluts and Miss Modernage, Amrit Village Indian and Chris Music Snob who were at the 5/17 show.

Art Brut 47 Confirmed; Grandpa's Last Visit

Good morning everybody.

So, upon reading a very curious interview with Art Brut 47 this morning, as featured in AMNY, the boys confirmed that yes, We Are Scientists have re-incarnated themselves for 2 nights at the Knitting Factory. Disguised in face paint and masks, the band are purposely vague in their responses to the interviewer's questions but at the very end let it all slip out. In addition to the shows with Art Brut tonight and tomorrow @ the Knit, be sure to check out the band at the KEXP Studios this afternoon... that is, if you signed up for tix already. I'm sure somebody has an extra somewhere.. might wanna Craigslist it.


Jason from Grandaddy's in-store acoustic and INTIMATE performance is tonight @ Other Music. I suggest you get there early as it's going to be madness in there, for sure. It starts promptly at 8pm.

Cover Happy Scientists

Well, you guys were right.

We Are Scientists definitely DID cover 'Hoppipola' at a recent BBC appearance.

AND IT'S FUCKING AWESOME!

Enjoy it here! (Thanks YANP!)

P.S. Sorry for doubting y'all! I'm still in disbelief.

Where in the World are We Are Scientists?

This is why I love We Are Scientists: "I hate to divulge this" says Keith Murray "but we were sci-fi themed at one point. We formed a band about being scientists who were going to fight monsters, and we were going to make huge papier-macha monsters who were going to fight each other." (taken from The Guardian October 28th 2005)- Skye, I got to say that an image of you popped into my mind as I read that.

A couple of days ago, the band was on Conan doing 'It's a hit.' Of course, they were fantastic. They looked like they were having the best time and sweet Keith couldn't stop smiling. So where are We Are Scientists?

Looks like they are touring the other side of US, starting with SXSW and ending in California. They'll be playing the Spin party tonight in Austin at 8pm so all you who can afford to go, GO!

Here's the rest of the tour schedule. Most dates aren't sold out so all you in Witchita still have a chance to see em.

• Mon March 20 2006
  Houston, TX / WalterÂ’s on Washington / venue change / buy tickets
• Tue March 21 2006
  Dallas, TX / Granada Theater / buy tickets
• Wed March 22 2006
  Oklahoma City, OK / Conservatory / Just Added / buy tickets
• Thu March 23 2006
  Kansas City, MO / Record Bar / buy tickets
• Fri March 24 2006
  Wichita, KS / JCÂ’s House of Rock / Just Added
• Sat March 25 2006
  Denver, CO / Hi-Dive
• Tue March 28 2006
  Seattle, WA / Crocodile Cafe / buy tickets
• Wed March 29 2006
  Vancouver, BC / Red Room / buy tickets
• Thu March 30 2006
  Portland, OR / Doug Fir Lounge / buy tickets
• Fri March 31 2006
  San Francisco, CA / Independent /
• Sat April 1 2006
  Los Angeles, CA / El Rey Theatre /
• Sun April 2 2006
  San Diego, CA / Casbah / buy tickets

After that, it's back over to Britain for another go around. I'm not even going to bother posting the schedule for there because IT IS ALL SOLD OUT. Nice one guys.

Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt

As Matt said below, We Are Scientists were absolutely brilliant Thursday night- and they were just the topper on the cake to an already fabulous evening your Music Sluts were having.

Matt and I got to Bowery Ballroom somewhere in the middle of the opener, Oxford Collapse's set. It was pretty lackluster I thought. They could benefit from a lot less yelling and more singing....oh and a stylist, yikes.

Whilst standing in the back as the Oxford Collapse yelled, James Iha sidled up next to us ("I see him more than my own mother" Matt informs me). Matt then spots the taller half of the Tarts of Pleasure and it is decided we should start a blog war with them (I've been working out, I think I could take the big one).



We Are Scientists take the stage after a wonderfully short wait and by the end of the show, they have the whole front of the venue jumping with excitement.



Keith is doubly cute in person, but so terribly skinny. Somebody feed this boy!





And you know what? I truly believe that with a little TLC, the rest of the boys in the band could be smoking hot as well.





Around midnight, the band left the stage but the crowd stood still so they came out again to play the only song left they actually know. They thanked the crowd for selling out the show and smiled at each other in disbelief as they played their last jam. Watching them play, you couldn't help but feel so excited on their behalf. I hope they go far and I hope they keep on making audiences laugh and jump and dance.

You can download the single Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt here.

THEY are scientists

and they were amazing last night at the bowery.

bandwagon-jumping-type end-of-year-roundup thingymajig :: part the first

Okay. So it's, say, a couple of days until the end of 2005; and I guess I should, you know, round up some of the stuff that's been on my headphones all year round. So this isn't going to be just stuff from 2005, as some of these records came out the year before (or earlier, who's to say!), it's just '05 was when they really managed to take off... (for me that is; most of you probably had the tee-shirt by the time I started listening to them)

KT Tunstall - False Alarm

I can be a bit ambivalent about Miss Tunstall; maybe I'm just being a bit of a snob, but there's definitely a bit of an easy-listening/Radio 2 type vibe to it. Having said that, the album Eye to the Telescope has some wonderful moments, and she really does have an amazing voice; songs like Other Side of the World, Suddenly I see and False Alarm all have an emotional depth to them (that the hokey Black Horse and the Cherry Tree totally lacks. I hate that song).
And she's a local Fife girl, so that's all to the good, too.
(Christmas Bonus: Red Light Stylus - Paper Aeroplane - KT's St Andrews based band, notable because my academic mum played the cello with them).

I suppose We Are Scientists' With Love and Squalor is an '05 highlight for those of us based in the UK, even if this record isn't out until January in the US.

We Are Scientists - What's the Word

I've got to admit that it's a record that I've been listening to off and on - perhaps more off than on to begin with, but I have found myself sticking it on the iPod more and more often. As Matt Jen has said in the past, they're a band with a great sense of humour (I had a bit of a chuckle this morning over my Weetabix as I watched the video for The Great Escape), but this is married to some quite relentless tunage. I quite like it, to be honest.

More to come tomorrow... maybe...