We've had a great year. Played some amazing gigs and finally have the album ready to go. After two attempts at mastering and two pressings, we now have the album done and will be starting the promotion next week. It looks and sounds great.

My other band Marble Valley also have a new album out next year so looks like it's going to be busy!

To celebrate the new year here is a video of the last Pavement gig ever in Argentina. They finished by playing a Marble Valley song and got all the crew (who happen to be Marble Valley members - Andy, Beige and Remko) on stage to play. Thanks to pavement for asking Horse Guards Parade to support them in Glasgow and at ATP and let's hope for a bigger and better 2011!

The albums above show what I have been listening to the most this year. There have been some amazing releases and these only show a small selection of the great and varied delights from the past twelve months.
Caribou, Best Coast, Beach House and Tame Impala probably made the greatest impression on me. All stunning, exciting and beautiful records. I don't think I would have guessed that any of those bands would feature so highly on this list if I would have had to guess at the end of last year.
Gonja Sufi, and Flying Lotus showed great invention while Panthe du Prince made a great album for the snow. The Gyangs album is amazing, Field Music is very well done and Isobel Campbell surprised me with a beautiful album that is very listenable.
there have been so many other good albums this year as well. I really liked Lindstrom and Christabelle, Vampire Weekend, Sun Araw, Avey Tare, Shangaan Electro, Deerhunter and there have been great compilations from Woodsist, Brownswood and Soundway. What more can you ask for?

Had to cancel last Saturdays gig at the Enterprise in Camden after a blizzard marooned us on the M1 for 12 hours. It will be rearranged for the new year.
As it's the end of the year here is a list of the gigs we've done so far from 2008 to 2010.


25/05/08 Springboard Festival @ The King Billy Cottingham (acoustic)
18/02/09 The lamp Hull
28/02/09 Playtime The Royal Oak Chorlton Manchester
17/03/09 The Adelphi Hull supporting Skeletons and the kings of all Cities
24/03/09 The Sesh @ Linnet and Lark Hull
25/04/09 Club NME@ The Welly Hull
22/05/09 Buffalo Bar London
31/05/09 Springboard Festival @ The King Billy cottingham
18/06/09 Alexanders Chester
11/07/09 DIY High 5 @ Adelphi hull
18/07/09 The Crescent Pub Salford
26/07/09 Raw Talent session BBC radio Humberside
09/08/09 The Big Chill Festival Eastnor Castle Ledbury
28/08/09 Leeds festival
29/08/09 Reading festival
13/09/09 Freedom Festival Hull
25/09/09 Acoustic Session gardenofearthlydelights.com
26/09/09 acoustic support to Howe Gelb Adelphi hull
15/10/09 acoustic support to Gravenhurst Adelphi hull
19/10/09 Adelphi hull (acoustic)
20/10/09 acoustic support to Jarvis Cocker Adelphi hull
22/10/09 acoustic session Simon Mayo show BBC radio 5 live
31/10/09 Idioteque @ the subculture Leeds
21/11/09 The Cluny Newcastle
28/11/09 The Shakespeare Sheffield
06/12/09 Camden rock london
01/05/10 lamp Hull with Marble Valley
02//05/10 Stereo York with Marble Valley
5/05/10 Barrowland Glasgow supporting Pavement
14/05/10 All Tomorrows Parties curated by Pavement
30/05/10 Springboard Festival @ The Railway Cottingham
10/06/10 Adelphi Hull
12/07/10 acoustic session BBC Leeds
15/07/10 Adelphi Hull (acoustic)
05/08/10 Night and Day Manchester
09/08/10 History Centre hull (acoustic)
27/08/10 Lamp Hull
15/09/10 Pozition Hull (acoustic)
01/10/10 Windsor
09/10/10 Night and Day Manchester
15/10/10 Bay Horse Hull (acoustic)
25/11/10 Adelphi Hull (acoustic)
12/12/10 Ringside Hull

Field Notes is a great brand who make notebooks. They seem to be getting more popular, and have just released a new colour.

Field Notes: Making of Balsam Fir from Coudal Partners on Vimeo.

It has been another amazing year for music and everyone seems to be putting out lists of their favorite albums. I'll post a list of mine just before Christmas, but for now, here is a list of this years releases which I have bought.

Vampire Weekend - Contra
Real Estate - Realty
Beach House - Teen Dream
Midlake - Courage of Others
The Knife in collaboration with Mt. Sims and Planningtorock - Tomorrow in a year
Tindersticks - Falling down a mountain
Lawrence Arabia - Chant Darling
Citay - Dream get together
Local Natives - Gorilla Manor
Pantha Du Prince - Black Noise
Nigeria Afrobeat Special: The new explosive sound in 1970's Nigeria
Field Music - Field Music (Measure)
Broadcast and the Focus Group
Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate
Lindstrom and Christobelle - Real Life Is No Cool
Bonobo - Black Sands
John Grant - Queen Of Denmark
Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here
Caribou - Swim
Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
The National - High Violet
Kurt Vile - Square Shells
Tame Impala - Inner Speaker
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
Delorian - Subiza
The Acorn - No Ghost
Harlem - Hippies
Stornoway - Beachcomber's Windowsill
Matthew Herbert - One One
Gonja Sufi - A Sufi and a Killer
Sleepy Sun - Fever
Actress - Splazsh
Julian Lynch - Mare
Phosphorescent - Here's to Taking it Easy
Teenage Fanclub - Shadows
Beach Fossils - Beach Fossils
Wild Nothing - Gemini
Best Coast - Crazy For You
Gayngs - Relayted
Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
The Love Language - Libraries
Menomana - Mines
Lloyd Miller and the Heliocentrics
Alan Moore - Unearthing
Black mountain - Wilderness Heart
Matthew Dear - Black City
Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
Woodsist - Welcome Home
Shangaan Electro
Sufjan Stevens - All Delighted Peoples EP
Brownswood Electro
Isobel Campbell - Hawk
Wooden Shjips - Vol. 2
Moon Duo - Escape
Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
Phantom Band - The Wants
Gold Panda - Lucky Shiner
Glasser - Ring
Matthew Herbert - One Club
Sun Araw - On Patrol
Woods - At Echo Lake
Mount Kimbie - Crooks and Lovers
Darkstar - North
Avey Tare - Down There
Girls - Broken Dreams Club
!!! - Strange Weather, Isn't it?
James Blake - Klavierwerke ep
Brandt Brauer Frick - You Make Me Real
The Walkmen - Lisbon
Best Coast - Make You Mine
Best Coast - Something in the Way
Best Coast - When I'm With You / This is Real
James Blake - CMYK EP
James Blake - The Bells Sketch
Soundways Records Presents The Sound Of Siam: Leftfield Luk Thung, Jazz and Molam from Thailand 1964 - 1975
Oniotrix Point Never - Returnal
The Best Of Farout 2010
Kurt Wagner and Cortney Tidwell Present KORT
Forest Swords - Dagger Paths
Ariya Astrobeat Arkestra

Couple of gigs coming up. Hull Ringside on December 12th and Camden Enterprise on December 18th. Should be good, get yourselves down there.

We're playing a special semi acoustic show at The Adelphi in Hull this Thursday (Nov 25th).

It's for the monthly 'folk in Hull' night. We're playing Blues covers and are being billed as 'Horse Guards Blues Parade'. Our set list will be:

Little Red Rooster (Howlin' Wolf / Rolling Stones)

Sweet Home Chicago (Robert Johnson)

Howlin' Wolf (Muddy waters)

Prodigal Son (Rolling Stones)

Smokestack Lightning (Howlin' Wolf)

I've spent the past week finishing off the new Marble Valley album. I've mentioned before that I moonlight in Marble Valley, but for anyone who doesn't know I'll explain. Marble Valley is made up of Steve West - the drummer in Pavement, a Dutch man, a man who isn't Dutch but lives in Amsterdam and four natives of Hull. We have been meeting up once or twice a year for the last ten years to either tour or record. We have played in Britain, Europe and America and are now recording our fifth album which should be out next spring.

We started recording this album in July this year in Amsterdam and this last week everyone has decended on Hull to finish it off. We got loads of work done down at Creyke Lane Studios. I can't wait until it's mixed, it's sounding great already!

Roy's Jeans - Video by Self Edge from Self Edge on Vimeo.

I have managed to refrain from posting anything about clothes on this blog, but this video is too good. Hand made Roy jeans, a snip at $275 from Self Edge in the U.S. of A.

Can't say I'm massively bothered about The Beatles joining Itunes, everyone must have the songs by now anyway. One good thing though is that every time I open safari some great pictures come up!

Great new track and video by David McSherry

David McSherry - U∂+ from Clear Notice on Vimeo.

Shangaan Electro
Brownswood Electric

I've had these two albums on my (ever expanding) music list for a while now and finally got round to buying them. They're both very different, but they're both very engaging. I also saw the 60's book Groupie in a shop the other day and bought it. Quite daft.

There was another really good article on the Left foot forward blog (www.leftfootforward.org) last Sunday called, 'Should we defend the middle class welfare state?'
The blog is well written and if you haven't already you would benefit from adding it to your daily reading list.
Unless you're a Tory, in which case I wouldn't bother.

Saw Japanese improviser Yoko Miura playing at the Holy Trinity Church. Her piano playing sounded amazing with the reverb of the church. I also found out that Holy Trinity's piano has been traced back to the factory it was made in, in germany, and it is one of two pianos which were played by Adolf Hitler when he visited the factory!

we played an acoustic gig at the Bay Horse pub in hull on Friday night (October 15). We played well, but the night was pointless.
Afterwards we went to a Dubstep night at The Lamp which was good. The guys on the door were playing solitaire on a Lap Top.

We played at the Night and Day in Manchester last week. Gig went well, Polly and the Billets Doux, who were really nice people, also played. More gigs coming up: Hull on December the 12th and London on Decemember the 18th. We're also in the middle of booking more gigs in London and Manchester. Check the myspace or Facebook for more detailed information.

Desert Island Discs has been really good over the last couple of weeks. Tom Jones and Johnny Vegas both came across very well.
Thank god for Radio 4. The only thing worth paying the license bill for.

I first heard about this blog earlier this year on The food program on Radio 4 and have been following the (infrequent) posts. I guess I was just intrigued that someone could care so much about hamburgers, that they would start a blog. www.aintnopicnicburgers.com

We have a gig on Friday the 1st of September in Sunningdale, Berkshire and another one on Friday the 9th of September at Night and Day in Manchester. We have also been booked to headline an all dayer at the Ringside in Hull on sunday December 12th.

I never expected this to Happen, but I love this album! I bought it when it first came out, and thought it was o.k. but never expected to like it that much. I suppose the hype put me off, but As the weeks went on, I found myself listening to it more until now, where I'm addicted. I listen everyday. Can't help it. It's 50's girl groups, it's surf punk, it's Hole, it's simple, it's poignant, it's very good.

We played the gig at Pozition (with a zed). It went well, far better than expected. People turned up to see us play, rather than just to go to the club night, which was a surprise. We didn't go on until One, and didn't have to be there until Eleven, so I went to see the Gainsbourg film earlier in the evening which I enjoyed very much.
Listened to the Monocle weekly earlier this week. Very pleased it's back on, the summer series with it's insistence on promoting boring, insipid, hotel Jazz was doing my head in.

Great piece on us on this blog.

http://besttuna.blogspot.com/2010/09/hold-your-horses.html

We have a few gigs coming up. Wednesday 15th of September we have an acoustic show at Pozition in Hull,
Then a gig somewhere near Windsor on October 1st (I'll put more details up when I have them), and on October 9th we're
playing at the Night and Day in Manchester.

Just finished reading Big Sur. Whenever I read Kerouac or Bukowski or Miller or any of those kind of beat writers/ autobiographical writers, I'm impressed by how they all believe in their own writing so much.
On another note; the other week, I ended up watching three films on my own on consecutive nights which took me to the edge of depression.

A single man.
The road.
Synecdoche, New York.

Generally I prefer bleakness to joyfullness - Lars Von Trier to Disney.
But this was too much, even for me.
I did enjoy the films though and Charlie Kaufman is a genius.

There was an interview/Q&A with Harmony Korine in the Observer over the weekend. It was full of his usual 'shocking' nonsense speak, funny though. He doesn't seem to have grown up at all.
It made me get out my copy of 'A crack up at the race riots', a book he wrote in 98. It's not a novel, it's a thing. Pages of fake suicide notes, nonsense and bits. I bought it after watching Gummo and not being sure if I liked it or not. Looking forward to Trash Humpers.

the album is finally getting pressed up, above are some of the artwork proofs, and should be out Physically and digitally at the end of October or beginning of November.
It will be called 'Ten songs'. There were other titles knocking around, but everything just sounded a bit pretentious and we wanted the album to just be about the songs.
there are ten songs on the album (as you might expect!), the track listing is as follows:

Everybody's going back to your house.
As the plane lifted its wheels.
It ended in a haze.
She looked like a Henry Moore.
Since you fell off my axis.
The treble clef.
This city's on fire.
The lies.
How can you take me dancing?
There's sunshine on the radio.

All the songs were recorded between October 2009 and april 2010. As the plane.. and This city's on fire are both new recordings from the versions on the e.p.
we have been streaming the album on the myspace for a little while, but the quality isn't that good. I will put up a better version if I get round to it.

I watched this film last night. It is quite possibly the worst film ever made, but it seems that was the point.
you should watch it.

Another good review of the album which is still not out for a few months.

I'm doing this Folk in Hull night on Thursday, playing about 5 acoustic songs.

We did an interview and acoustic session on BBC Radio Leeds, the dj was a dick.

!

Battle of Branchage from seeper on Vimeo.

It's the Larkin 25 celebrations this month. The album 'All Night North' whis has 12 bands (including us) who have written music to Phillip Larkin poems is released. Other things going on in the City include Poetry readings, painted toads around the streets, and a gig on June 10th at the Adelphi which We are playing.

above is a film featuring the voice of Hull born actor Tom Courtenay reading the Phillip Larkin poem 'Here'. It also features the music of Hurricane Lulu, a Hull musician who is part of Awash with antleR.

First review of our album on www.thenorthernline.com

http://thenorthernline.com/2010/05/28/horse-guards-parade-ten-songs/

"As the plane lifted its wheels" Live at All Tomorrow's Parties curated by Pavement. Butlins Minehead. 15/05/10

Live in soundcheck, Glasgow Barrowland, supporting Pavement. 05/05/10



Note, cameo from our Dutch soundman, Remko.

"How can you take me dancing?" Live at The Lamp Hull 01/05/10

ATP was pretty wild. Saw Calexico and Broken Social Scene on the Friday before playing with Marble Valley. Had a great gig. Bob Nastanovich introduced us with Horse Guards guitarist Archie dressed in a yellow jump suit, and Bobs wife Whitney hula hooped at the front of the stage during the show. Everyone gave it loads though Aaron our percusionist seemed to spend the full show pointing and shaking a triangle!
Later saw Wooden Shjips then back to the chalet for the rest of the night.
We played at 1 the next day. Archie had stayed up all night preparing. Gig went well got some great feedback then saw Wax Fang play Prince's Purple Rain, Pavement, who were amazing, and the Monotonics who played the best 15 minutes I've ever seen until the show got stopped by sercurity. The rest of the night merged into the next day back at the Marble Valley chalet.
Felt terrible Sunday. Steve Wests talk on being a stone mason was very entertaining and the Fall were amazing and awful at the same time. Great weekend with some very sketchy memories. Drowned in sound has some good photos of the weekend, here are a couple of us, as well as some other photos to give you the feel of the three days and a video of some of Westys talk.