Like in Almost Famous...

I recently had a discussion with my Dutch friend Laura about bands and their fans. How far fans are willing to go just to see their favourite band, how much they are willing to pay and so on. Mostly talking from our own experience.
For instance, I met Laura last year in the Netherlands. In Utrecht, in Breda and in Amsterdam. At Tivoli de Helling, at Mezz and at Melkweg. Some of you know - those are the venues Blood Red Shoes played at last year in one week. I travelled with my (now ex) boyfriend to the Netherlands to see our favourite band play three times. We paid a respectful amount of money to get there. And why? Because we love the band.
And this was not the first time I've done that. The very first band I travelled for was Mew - we saw them at Tivoli in Copenhagen in 2006. I've also travelled for Muse, Arcade Fire... and most recently for Trail of Dead. Trail of Dead played in Prague this year, but it wasn't enough - I just wanted to see their show one more time. And then one more time. And I still want to see them play again. Sometimes I travel simply because that certain band doesn't play in Prague or anywhere else in my country. Like Blood Red Shoes - never played in the Czech Republic and yet I've seen them seven times.
Does my dedication make me groupie? I don't care. I don't care if I won't have money for food after my trip. I'm young and I know I'll survive. Sometimes a guestlist spot helps - to be honest, this world would be a much sadder place without guestlist spots. There's pride, of course, but mostly it saves money. You can say "You call yourself a dedicated fan and you don't want to pay for the show?". You are absolutely right. But - I always pay a lot for the means of travelling. Trains are fricking expensive these days - 60 Euros from Prague to Salzburg? That's a lot. Without a guestlist spod I'd have paid almost ninety Euros just for the trainticket and the show. Plus food and drinks and merchandise. Well, you can bring your own food and drink pure water and not buy any merchandise, but where's the fun in that?

And by the way #1: When I say stuff about musicians hotness and/or getting with them, I'm 99% of the time joking. I know get too excited sometimes and then seem to be the biggest groupie in the world, but I never mean it THAT seriously.
What does it mean to be groupie/fangirl/fanboy anyway? People say "oh you're such a groupie, you've seen the band so many times!" but that's bullshit. Seems like nobody understands what "groupie" means anymore. If a person wants to get with a bandmember just because they are one - that's groupieness. If you love them because they make amazing music, that's being a fan. Dedicated, yes, but only a fan. Do you happend to fancy a band member? Hm, and what? They are musicians, but still they are people. And people happen to fancy other people. It's called nature. But "oh I love him, he's from band XYZ" is stupid. Just so you know.
And by the way #2: I fancy musicians. I can say "he's hot!" and mean it. On the other hand, if they are good musician and stupid people at once, there's no chance I'd fancy them. Musician does not equal a god. It equals a person with a talent and stuff - yes, a person. And that matters.

The Cosmopolitan WishList of a Complicated Girl.

(cause we need some of my infamous posts. Brought to you by Conde-Nast publishing. Enjoy)

WANT.
NOW.

. some time to write
I don't need time, I need motivation.

. A new haircut. And color
Redhead like Shirley Manson?black like Siouxsie Sioux?Blue?Green?
short?straight?curly?
suggestions required.

.Tickets to see Tegan&Sara in Paris
Cause,when I'll be rich again, It'll be sold out.
ALSO : tix to see Paramore.Same reasons.


.'About a Boy'-Nick Hornby ; London To Brighton DvD ; The Cure ' Join The Dots' ; A new dress
I'm a girl, I can't help it. Speaking of dress, what do you think about Vanessa Bruno's new collection?

. A band.
ideally a three piece, ideally shoegaze-lo-fi-punk.
Ideally, I should bring my bass again and play some tunes on my own. One can dream.


. a Pavement world tour.
That would pass by France, UK, the Netherlands, any country I can go in.
speaking of, who's in for a stalking tour?

.A flat in Uk.
I need to win the national lottery first.
wish me luck.

.The job I'm looking for.
No,not my dreamjob (for this, I'm working hard, see above). The part time Job I had two interviews for these last two weeks, the one where the boss is a mix between Hugh Laurie and George Clooney (I'm not impressed, i'm not kidding)

. A time machine
SUMMER OF 2009. And October. There are people who will understand



The French One, obv.
x

No More Stories Are Told Today I'm Sorry They Washed Away No More Stories The World Is Grey I'm Tired Let's Wash Away.

This is a translation of my review on Mew's new album - check exitmusic.org for its Czech version.

Mew - No More Stories / Are Told Today / I'm Sorry / They Washed Away // No More Stories / The World Is Grey / I'm Tired / Let's Wash Away.

I was asked to write a review on this album a relatively long time ago. Since then I've been thinking about what exactly I want to say to the world about this album. Mew is a band so close to me, music so personal and sensitive, that I'd never want to perform an autopsy on their almost epic piece of work. I'm listening to No More Stories... on repeat. Let's listen together.

I won't disturb my listening progress and go back to the intro. At the moment, track #7 Cartoons and Macramé Wounds is playing in my ears – and it's, in my personal opinion, the strongest piece on this album. Do you know that feeling, when your heart seems to be trembling and you don't know if it's going to race like never or just stop? That's what I'm feeling right now. And there are no simple emotions like “oh and now I am going to cry”. No, now you don't know what to think, you don't actually concentrate on the song's lyrics, you just listen and feel something. Something, that you can't describe, it's just heavy inside you and cheers you up at once.

And you know what, I won't continue describing song by song. What I feel whilst listening to Cartoons doesn't really change when listening to the rest of the album. After the very first listen it seems like a very calm album, for some a bit whiny and dreamy, but that's not right. In those pieces, in those tones and in Jonas Bjerre's vocals, there is so much epic power that makes you wonder why you haven't noticed it before. There's a beautiful phrase in English - “effortlessly epic” (thanks James Ether) – that describes this album on the dot. And I'm not even in that phase of listening to an album, when I analyze the lyrics. After one month of listening to it I'm still on the stage of dumb adoration, when I am floating on the music's waves and letting them do with me whatever they intend to.

Mew don't deserve common “it's like this and this and the interpreter made it like that and this is how it is supposed to sound and this is what it means” kind of a review. Basically, I am writing this review like their music has always appealed to me – a slightly modified stream of consciousness. But this album deserves more. This album is a collection of this autumn's anthems.