Splendid Dead

(This pic is actually Blood of the Bull live at The Tunnels)

A while back (13/11/08 to be precise) the wonderful Hillary Van Scoy brought Blood of Bull (also featuring Rory “The Ballad of Mable” Wong on drums) to play our Mutant Music night. We managed to get some songs bootlegged and Hillary agreed to talk us through her set, some of which you can download by clicking on the song titles.

N.B. The recordings are, as usual, sounddesk bootlegs and so are not mixed perfectly for home listening. But there’s nothing better than the real thing, right? With that in mind, you should check out BOTB any chance you get, and definitely come see them when they play Mutant Music again on 15/03/09. Over to Hillary…

Knife In The Water

The singing in this set’s pretty overzealous. Whoops.  I opened with this one because it was brand new at the time. Rory and I had just put it together. It’s an idea of being really turned off by someone’s self-absorption but wanting the hell out of them at the same time. A lot of my songs are about this kind of shit. I should really grow up.

Young Man’s Grip

This is Rory’s favourite. It’s not a complex song, but we have a lot of fun with the whole quiet/loud dynamic thing tailored around the lyrics. It’s the only song we have like that, really. Maybe I’m making too much out of this. We just have a bastard of a good time playing it.

When I’m Gone

I’m not too crazy about this song anymore, although it’s still up on my myspace page… Maybe I’ll come around again and like it when I’m in my thirties or something. The rhythm is a little bit country in this one; several other people have called my attention to that, which frightens the living shit out of me as I’ve tried everything in my power to NEVER do that since I grew up in Texas and, well, HATED growing up in Texas. You know what they say: you can take the girl out of the place, but…..

Megs

People generally think this is a crap, pithy pop love song (I don’t blame them), but it’s actually about WWII and someone losing his lover in the camps. I wrote it thinking a bit about how lucky some places are in the western world at the moment in that something horrendous hasn’t happened here on a massive scale in a very, VERY long time. The song’s really simple, short and repeats the same patterns; it’s kind of deceptive that way. And, well….simple and short.

2 Hearts From Rome

Once upon a time, at age 17, Hillary wished she was PJ Harvey. And sometimes she still does. Or at least did when she was 23 and wrote this song.

Seduced By Money

Again, once upon a time, at age 17… This might be our second favourite in this set. It’s been around for a year or so.  We both sing on this, too. We like to play it because it’s deliberate and swaggery. Ever been at a crowded party and not known your knees from your ass, nor where you last saw your wallet, nor why you’ve showed up or when you got there, but you then lock eyes with someone across the room who’s probably thinking the same thing and maybe has a fantastic haircut AND (you discover) an even better record collection, and you know your night’s about to get absurdly better? Yeah, you know.

Alex James

I somehow managed to sing this like I was going to pop a blood vessel in my temple, produce a machete, and massacre the audience, but don’t let that put you off. Try to imagine it coming out a bit more serenely if that’s possible. Rory did some impromptu subtle drumming in the background.  Anyhow, this is not about the bassist from Blur, a now 40-something farmer with his own brand of cheese, as much as that might kind of make sense. It’s about a guy named Alex and a guy named James- both of whom proceeded to drink all of my alcohol one night up north. And then my brain got hairy, I played a really shit set the next day, went home, and wrote this. It’s probably the most fun piano song to play live, as well. Sometimes rainbows can sprout out of shit, eh?

She Smokes Opium

I wanted to close it all creepy and sullen. Synesthesia. Opium smoking. What more can I say?

There’s more Blood of the Bull music on Myspace. When Hillary isn’t taking care of writing/singing/guitaring/pianoing in Blood of the Bull, she also plays in the equally awesome Divorce. Rory, who drums in Blood of the Bull (and on the above tracks, natch), plays guitar in The Ballad of Mable Wong, amongst other gentlemanly pursuits.

Again, in case you forgot, Blood of the Bull will be playing Mutant Music @ The Flying Duck with Bad Bad Men, The Second Hand Marching Band and Sparrow & The Workshop on Thursday 12/03/09.

www.myspace.com/bloodofthebull