Squid Ink Go Global

Global is a fairly loose term as we have been struggling to crack Africa and most of the Americas but non-continental Europe has been smashed (particularly a small corner of the home counties). I sent this link to the dudes via a Generation Y social networking device and it was blocked I think for the use of the word cock inside Buzzcocks...and I thought Generation X were a bunch of prudes? Which leads me neatly to an observation...in my conversations with people who have attended gigs and listened to the debut Magnum Opus we have been likened to, in order: Stiff Little Fingers, the Buzzcocks, the Descendants and in the review below (taken, perhaps not, from the Whitstable and District Echo, an organ no doubt well respected by Silky for its gritty, hard-nosed, good-old-fashioned-get-out-there-and-find-a-story kind of journalism mixed with cutting edge cultural reportage...and apparently all done for the visually impaired) Stiff Little Fingers and the Buzzcocks again. This is heady company we keep. I find it genuinely uplifting that the reviewer has actually listened to the album.

Squid Ink : 8 Legs To Hold You. **** Album of the week.

"These Aussie wierdos certainly have more in common with English punk outfits like Buzzcocks and Stiff Little Fingers than their compatriots and ex-prisoners Midnight Oil, INXS and Ice House. But that's a really good thing believe me. The excellent opener "Deadpan" sets their stall out early doors. A "Tour De Force" might be pushing it but these guys show us that going crazy isn't the sole right of Aussie cricketers (esp when they lose the Ashes this summer)! The tight musicianship all round kicks ass and I couldn't fault the recording/engineering - they clearly have well equipped studios and producers down under! Interesting mixing with some clever bits show these guys have some imagination alright - eg start of "Mrs Bun". Some corking little songs in there, too - lots of laugh out loud lyrics - check out "Inter-species Carnality Blues" for belly laughs - "Are you a man or is that some kind of falsie? Are you left handed or is that some kind of palsy?" I found myself sniggering on the tube whilst listening on my iPod! Added this album at the same time as Elbow's Seldom seen kid and I found myself skipping back to 8L2HY! And Elbow got some crappy Mercury prize for that tosh. Overall a groovy little album I'll be happy to listen to whilst walking the dog or pogoing around Whitstable.

Peter "Katie Price" Andre, Chief Music Writer, May 2009"

Squids on film

I really like this and decided, spontaneously, to blog about it. What do you reckon?

ELO made some pretty awesome videos, back in the day. Should Squid Ink make a video? For which song? And what kind of video should we make? How come I can't figure out how to embed a youtube clip in this post?

I already feel like Modern Doug missed a good opportunity to shoot some stock footage with his visit to the Donkey Refuge last year. Would hate to miss another. Alternatively, we could just drop 'Song for Uri' on top of the vision from the clip to Soundgarden's Spoonman, submit it to Rage and hope that nobody notices.

Oh Rock of Ages

Squid Ink played the Brunswick Hotel last weekend.

We launched the album in a blazing fury of hot rock and the crowd loved it.

However, you may not have heard the bad news: Silky-D — our own hard-rocking, praying-mantis-shaped guitarist — due to health reasons could not be on stage. The band felt dreadfully unhappy about this and so, I fear, did the audience. We tried to placate the murmuring fans by giving them a taste of Stand-In-Dave but it simply wasn't the same.

Anyway, Stand-In-Dave handled the material comfortably, we nailed the old hits, the new songs went down well. We chose to keep Motorcade in our pocket for you until Silky can join us because only then can we do it justice. Look forward to that.

We have to play again when Silky is back on two legs. Watch this space.

Squid Ink On Ice

No no! Not the drug of choice for the post-pepsi generation instead a reference to the travelling Disney spectaculars and to their originator's suspended animation. Why?

When I popped the live CD of last saturday's gig, unimaginitively titled "John Barleycorn Must Live III", into my computer iTunes helpfully suggested that I was about to rip "Bambi - Disney - Children's Music". I corrected it but was quietly pleased to know that we were helping to ensure that the kids are alright.