Dandy Bandy Interview

YAOAY has been interviewed. Click the pic to read.

I wish they had included my Pia quote. They didn't, so I will include it here:

"Rap music is all the same. It's all, 'Back your booty up onto my Manhood and gimme some diamonds!'" - Pia Shandel

Week

Well, some things have happened.


Private Lives played in a pop up shop in Brixton last Thursday. There were some, em, technical difficulties (I didn't have a mic), but all in all it was super fun and we got the people dancing, which is the point after all. The Drummers of Tedworth opened, dressed as cute creepy furry animals and making lots of percussive noises. Me likey.

All I can really say about Friday night is that there are some really good bartenders at the Haggerston, and Ping Pong is the greatest game ever invented.

Saturday, I was lucky enough to get tickets to The Creators Project party. Wicked party, free drinks all night, tonnes of art music and good times people. I was super late because I was waiting for my plus 1, but once I got there and found Caisa and Roman and started consuming free vodka red bulls at a rapid rate, my tardiness was of little import. Super fun times.

Hey, you know what I love? Swimming. It rules. For reals. I have a new swimming buddy and it's super duper awesome. I purchased a fake denim string bikini from Matalan just so I could indulge in my new addiction without having to stop at home for supplies. Me and the new buddy hit up London fields on saturday, then shoreditch house on monday. Seriously, I can't believe I haven't been doing this every day this month! This is a hot picture of me in a bikini...

This week and next are super busy. I am playing a gig with Private Lives on Friday at Elevator Gallery in Hackney Wick. AND an exhibition I am organizing as well as participating in opens on July 30. So super busy but so super awesome! Stay tuned because the next few weeks are going to be mental...in a good way...I promise...

Private Lives in a Shop! Legally!

Tonight Private Lives + The Drummers of Tedworth will be playing live inside a Bollywood Lord of The Rings art installation in Brixton Market.

So there is going to be a big cardboard installation that we will be performing inside of, made by the same people who made the cardboard dinosaur and robot that battled it out at Elevator gallery a few weeks ago. Wick. And this is happening mere HOURS from now! 

FACEBOOK INVITE FOR INFO.

There will be loads of other fun free stuff happening tonight and all weekend, so HAUL ASS TO BRIXTON!

Private Living on the Public Radio

Georgia LA of Roundhouse Radio interviewed me and Bryn about our guerrilla gigging habit. The results have just been posted online. Interview starts at the 7:57 mark and lasts about 3 minutes. 

Look Mom, a REAL Gig!

Footage from Private Lives performance at Punk May 6. And yes, I was using my tights as a purse. Wick!

Private Lives at Punk!

We played a (legal) gig at Punk last Thursday, and here are some photos from the night. The show was super fun, and our friend David Walsh filmed a lot of footage, so hopefully soon there will be a film too! I heart to sing. xxx

The artist Leo Cohen and his girlfriend Arantxa











All photos by Wade Fletcher

Gig and Arrest in Primark

Here it is. The story of the arrest of Private Lives and friends! Features clips of a few of our songs and interviews with the band members. Jolly good fun.

Arrested!

Last Saturday, my band Private Lives attempted to perform a guerrilla gig in the flagship Primark store on Oxford Street. Things did not go according to plan. The store was swarming with police. They knew exactly who we were and when and were we were planning to perform. They even knew all of our names. It's sounds crazy and paranoid, but the police had been spying on us. NEVER TRUST FACEBOOK! So instead of going ahead with our Sweatshop Disco and reclaiming public space in a frenzy of music and dancing and fun....everyone in the band and most of our friends were arrested.

These are some camera phone pictures that our friend Alex managed to take as Bryn and I were being placed in the back of a police car. Absolute Madness!









In truth, it seems that the police were some of our biggest fans. They had seen the videos from our previous guerrilla gigs in tesco and on the DLR and they were extremely interested in the philosophy behind doing these shows. We invited them to our show at Punk tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath.

If you are sad because you never came to any of our illegal gigs, you can now see us play LEGAL shows around London and Europe! Punk tomorrow, doors at 9. See us in Berlin later in the spring. What fun.

X-Ray Vision

e

When I was in Berlin a few weeks ago, I missed a step going down the stairs at my friends flat and landed with all my weight on my poor little foot. I don't want to blame alcohol, but in the morning I found a beer marking the spot where I fell. The hospital gave me nifty blue crutches with red reflector stripes on them, AND I got to keep my X-rays!

Although my foot wasn't technically broken, I couldn't walk for almost two weeks. This is more annoying than it sounds, especially since my boyfriend was visiting from Canada at the time and the poor dear was relegated to being my "care-master". A walk that would normally take me ten minutes would take me an hour and a half on crutches, and I would be drenched in sweat and close to tears by the end of it all. I certainly felt extremely sorry for myself. But then I started thinking about Terry Fox....the dude had one leg AND cancer and he managed to run almost all the way across Canada, whereas I sprain my foot and can't even make it to off license at the end of my street! God I am spoiled! Anyways, I can walk now with a limp, but I am basically pretty healed. Yay for me.

Probably the most annoying part of injuring myself was the fact that I couldn't do what I was planning to do in Berlin, namely look for venues for my band to throw a party/performance in this summer! I had gone to Berlin to meet my bandmate Bryn, and the poor man had to search the city for venues all by himself. Luckily, he did find something perfect, and we will be throwing an amazing party with live performances from my band Private Lives, artist Vicky Gold, and many others. I am super excited for it, so stay tuned for more info.

If you can't wait till summer to see Private Lives, this Saturday May 1 will be our amazing Sweatshop Disco! Intrigued? Email publicliving@hotmail.com for more info.

Oh! And we are also playing a four song set at Punk on May 6! Super Amazing Fun Times.

Stuff and Things and Shit

I haven't posted anything in a long time. Things that have happened:

1) I cut my hair and dyed part of it blond.


2) I had a Massive House Party. Hundreds of people showed up, half of whom I did not know. The house was trashed and people put out cigarette butts on our couch cushions. I hid for most of the night in my bedroom, locking myself in with a few special people I could actually tolerate. One girl passed out in my bed and slept until 3 pm the next day, blissfully unaware of the chaos going on around her, although I have a sneaking suspicion that she may have pissed on my duvet. It was actually super fun (mostly for the guests), and I made some great new friends, but I am definitely gonna wait a loooooooong time to open up my home to the public (the public being intoxicated artists, students, vagabonds and skateboarders).

3) Gavin came to visit (and he is still here). Amazing.



4) I managed to retrieve a few shots from the infamous Tesco Tech.





5) Gavin and I went to Malmo Sweden, Copenhagen Denmark and Berlin Germany. We did mushrooms in Sweden, I got pinkeye and Gavin got robbed in Copenhagen, and I fell down the stairs and broke my foot in Berlin. It was awesome.

Anyways, will post photos and more details about the trip in a few days. In the meantime, I am going to Hyde Park in a wheelchair.

Panic Room

My friend Caisa interviewed Private Lives for Arts London News yesterday. I will post the video in a few days. In the meantime, here is a short article she did on us for Don't Panic magazine.

PRIVATE LIVES TESCO PARTY

Tesco Tech!

Last night my band Private Lives played an illegal show in a tesco in Dalston. Check it.



One of these days, I promise we will play a show that lasts more than 30 seconds. But in the meantime, isn't this kind of awesome?

DLR Disco

My Band Private Lives every so often will do illegal shows in public places. We are doing one this coming saturday, although I won't say when or where. Just trust me when I say it will be mind-blowingly awesome. Here is some footage from the show we played on the DLR just over a month ago, shot by my friend Uli.

My New Job

Come the New Year, I will be singing with this man in his band.

PRIVATE LIVES perform at elevator gallery December 19 2009