I used to read Richard Herring’s “Warming Up” blog every day, starting from the beginning and then catching up to the present.

Then Google Reader was killed off, I lost my place, and never got round to working out where to carry on reading from.

Now, as a tactic to replace endless social media* scrolling, I’ve just started again from the very beginning (Nov 2002!).

I’ve also signed up to Marvel Unlimited and started reading Spider-Man from the start (1963!).

Wonder which I’ll catch up with first.

Oh, and I’m cross-posting to Tumblr for the first time in years too. Will anyone read this? Does anyone read anything?

Who knows - I’ve posted some gigs I’m doing this month anyway, just in case.

Laters.

*well, Twitter in particular.

Free/paywhatyouwant music!

Hello there! 

We’d like to give you two new tracks ahead of our tour next month: head to the Xtra Mile website for details.

I’ve also made videos for the songs using a) my computer and b) my slightly warped sense of fun.

The video for Is An Insult is inspired by late night YouTube viewing sessions on tour, looking up "Fail" videos and laughing too much; I've included a few personal fails in there so that it's not entirely us giggling at others’ misfortune. There's also a couple of Boris Johnson and Michael Gove because: politics. The song was written for The Half-Life of Facts, but didn't really fit - I'm glad it got out there in the end.

The video for Jailhouse Rage is inspired by old-skool (by internet standards) animations from the likes of www.rathergood.com (who did a fantastic Mclusky video featuring cute kittens rocking out to Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues) and Channel 4's the Adam & Joe Show. The mashup itself is the result of a decade of drunkenly singing the words to each of these songs at clubnights to anyone who would listen (and plenty who wouldn't) as I thought it was really funny. I still do. 

Doing a full band tour - come along!

Thom Yorke’s  2 week long  “song”: the internet is eating itself.

I just saw a post on Facebook that linked to an article on Crack Magazine’s website about Thom Yorke’s two week-long “song”. 

The opening line of that article attributes the story to The Huffington Post, which in turn credits The Independent’s website which THEN becomes fairly obvious that they’ve taken all the details from the Triple J site.

So that first Facebook post is a link to a Cracked article about how the Huffington Post is reporting on The Independent’s take on a story posted by Triple J.

Bravo internet...bravo.

Now if someone would like to write a follow-up blog about this Tumblr post*, and so on, and so on, forever....that would be perfect.

OT

*ideally while listening to Club Foot By Kasabian By Blacklisters - Them Wolves**

**Has “Club Foot By Kasabian By Blacklisters By Them Wolves” been done yet? Google goes a bit funny when I try searching for that.

BTW: I’m playing gigs made up of songs that are definitely less long than that over the next couple of weeks:

Solo shows FB events & ticket links: share and invite!

Ahoy! 

Here are the Facebook events & ticket links (where available) for next month’s acoustic shows. It would be great if you could RT, repost, RSVP, invite friends in the other areas, spread the word in any other way you see fit: 

Tuesday 2nd June - Cheese & Grain (bar), Frome^ FACEBOOK / FREE ENTRY Thursday 4th June - Star & Garter, Manchester* FACEBOOK / TICKETS Friday 5th June - JT Soar, Nottingham* FACEBOOK / £5 otd. Saturday 6th June - 1 in 12, Bradford* FACEBOOK / £4 otd. Sunday 7th June - Broadcast, Glasgow* FACEBOOK / £5 otd Tuesday 9th June - Stag & Hounds (upstairs), Bristol*^ FACEBOOK / TICKETS (paywhatyouwant) Thursday 11th June - Old Blue Last, London~ FREE ENTRY

*w/Mark McCabe ^w/Warren Mallia

Really looking forward to these - it’s been quite a while since I’ve been on a solo tour, and I’ve not been back to some of these places since the Mongol Horde or InMe tours last summer...I’ve not been back to Frome since playing there with Frank Turner in 2012. Sorry Frome.

See you soon.

OT

May / June shows:

May 15th - Alternative Great Escape @ Pav Tav, Brighton (solo) free entry 30th - Camden Rocks (full band) tickets June 2nd - Cheese & Grain, Frome (solo)^ free entry 4th - Star & Garter, Manchester (solo)*  5th - JT Soar, Nottingham (solo)* 6th - 1 In 12, Bradford (solo)* 7th - Broadcast, Glasgow (solo)* 9th - Stag & Hounds, Bristol (solo)*^ tickets 10th - Old Blue Last, London (solo) free entry *w/Mark McCabe ^w/Warren Mallia (The Attika State/Grand Pop)

More ticket links to follow. 

OT

February tour (full band) ticket & Facebook event links:

Ahoy there, and happy new year - it's one month until our run of full band headline shows kicks off. 

Support on all dates comes from the excellent Strange Planes - check them out. Plus in Cardiff we've got Strange News From Another Star (Jimmy from Future of the Left's other band) and Bristol has Super Goliath (50% of Left Side Brain) who will be pummelling colossal riffage into your faceholes.

Here are the dates, with Facebook events for you to RSVP/invite people and links to buy advance tickets:

Friday 6th February - London, Montague Arms Facebook Event Tickets Saturday 7th February - Cardiff, Moon Club Facebook Event Tickets Sunday 8th February - Bristol, The Exchange Facebook Event Tickets Monday 9th February - Portsmouth, Edge of the Wedge Facebook Event Tickets We'll have some new merch at the shows, pics of that soon.

See you there

OT

Hello! Here are some full band shows for next year:

Friday 6th February - London, Montague Arms Saturday 7th February - Cardiff, Moon Club Sunday 8th February - Bristol, The Exchange Monday 9th February - Portsmouth, Edge of the Wedge

Support on all dates is from the excellent Strange Planes, who were my pick for Xtra Mile's latest compilation, check them out and spread the word:

https://strangeplanes.bandcamp.com

The Bristol show has an added treat in the form of Super Goliath; a relentless 2-piece riff barrage made up of 50% of Left Side Brain. More supports TBC on all dates.

Ticket links are currently being crafted by Santa's elves, and will be found soon via: www.oxygenthiefmusic.com

Excitement mode: engage.

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Thanks to everyone who came out to a show in 2014, listened to the album, bought a t-shirt, or came to say hi at the merch stand afterwards. Bands say this kindof thing all the time I know, but it's absolutely true; if it weren't for the support of such excellent people along the way, then making music and playing live would not be anywhere near as fun. 

Have an excellent festive time, I/we will see you next year.

OT

THLOF turns 0.5

Hola

What with all the festivities at the moment, I forgot to wish THLOF a happy half-birthday on Tuesday. Crank it up/grab a copy:

https://play.spotify.com/album/1YSVKdEBFSJ1PbKjmzCCeo

http://www.xtramilerecordings.com/ArtistDetails?Aid=XMR_AR_63

The first batch of full band dates for the new year are coming tomorrow - keep your eyes peeled.

Happy Birthday ADNHTAC

Well now - this time last year the first full-band OT release "Accidents Do Not Happen, They Are Caused" came out on Xtra Mile Recordings and we were gearing up for a sold out show at The Garage London with Jamie Lenman to celebrate.

If you've got it, crank it up. If not, check it out: https://play.spotify.com/album/4RRiEzPBaEC3rbkGOXv7n1

Or grab a copy from iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gw/album/accidents-do-not-happen-they/id872089494

Or the XMR shop: http://www.xtramilerecordings.com/Shop/DownloadDetails?rid=XMR_RE_141

You can also get the cd as part of a bundle with my last acoustic EP, full album, and t-shirt for just £25: http://www.xtramilerecordings.com/Shop/BundleDetails?bid=XMR_BD_113

Thanks to everyone who has bought it over the last year - it signalled the start of some excellently rocking times, long may they continue.

Talking of continuing: my last show of the year is this Sunday, 14th December, playing solo supporting The Retrospective Soundtrack Players at The Vic, Swindon. After that, we've got some new shows in the works for early 2015 - more info to come soon.

OT

Shows: Reading, USA, Cheltenham & London

Hey hey - just a little bundle of upcoming shows for you including my first trip to play in the USA & a couple of full band shows in October:

29th August - Reading @ Rising Sun Arts Centre (solo)

2nd September - Manhattan, NY* 3rd September - New Jersey City, NJ* 4th September - Philadelphia, PA* 5th September - Manhattan, NY* 6th September - Woostock, Queens, NY 8th September - Boston, MA* 9th September - Somersworth, NH*

*Acoustic House Shows - email xtramilestreetteam@gmail.com for details, limited space available.

16th October - Frog & Fiddle, Cheltenham w/Carnivores (tickets: https://www.wegottickets.com/event/286722). Full band. 17th October - Jubilee Club @ Barfly, London w/Carnivores (tickets: http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/event/jubilee-tickets/132179). Full band.

Check Carnivores out - they’re ace: http://www.facebook.com/carnivoresuk

Cya there

OT

New album “The Half-Life of Facts” and other Xtra Mile releases available from; http://www.xtramilerecordings.com/ArtistDetails?Aid=XMR_AR_63

Merch: https://oxygenthief.bandcamp.com/merch

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/oxygenthief666

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/oxygenthiefYEAH

Tickets going fast: Download Festival / Möngöl Hörde Töur / 2000 Trees Festival

Ahöy there! Not long to go until all of this happens, tickets are flying out for everything so get in quick - it'll be Möngöl Hörde's only tour this year, maybe ever according to Frank

Töur with Möngöl Hörde (full band)

See you there

OT

"Soaked through, and sunburned; this is not the summer we deserve" *as söön as möther fucking pössible

The Half-Life Of Facts preorders / festival details.

Well hello!

First up - a huge thanks to everyone who came out to see the full band tour we just did opening for InMe and The Red Paintings, and thanks to the bands themselves too. We had a great week-and-a-bit, and can't believe it's over.

In case you hadn't heard - we've got a brand new full-band full-length album coming out on Monday 16th June 2014 via Xtra Mile Recordings - it's called "The Half-Life of Facts" and is available for preorder from the Xtra Mile Recordings Webstore / iTunes. Have a listen to Co(extra)ordinates here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT77lXyRfuQ

We're itching to get back out on tour and play more of these new songs, and will have some news on that soon, but for now here are some festivals that I/we are playing:

See you soon

OT

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Merch: www.oxygenthief.bandcamp.com

Xtra Mile webstore: http://www.xtramilerecordings.com/Shop/DownloadDetails?rid=XMR_RE_161

Facebook: oxygenthief666

Twitter: @oxygenthiefyeah

Full band tour w/InMe kicks off this Friday!

Good morning!

Our full band tour with InMe and The Red Paintings kicks off this Friday:

09 SOUTHAMPTON Talking Heads 

10 PLYMOUTH White Rabbit

11 BRISTOL Fleece 

12 BIRMINGHAM Flapper

13 NOTTINGHAM Rock City Basement  

14 GLASGOW Audio

15 SHEFFIELD Corporation

16 MANCHESTER Sound Control

17 LONDON Islington Academy

Ticket links are at www.bandsintown.com/inme - we're going to be playing a mixture of songs from ADNHTAC, full-band versions of stuff from ODTWABF and unleashing a couple of newbies from our upcoming full-length album THLOF (on which: more info v.soon). It's going to be an absolute corker of a tour - don't miss it.

In other news - I'm so excited to be joining the lineup of this year's Download Festival, playing a solo set on the Jagermeister Acoustic Stage on Sunday 15th May along with Ginger Wildheart, Jamie Lenman, Dave McPherson, Ducking Punches & loads more. Check out the full list at http://goo.gl/MH8yMO

See you soon

OT

1st April

Just to clarify: this was an April Fool's post...I've had a few people ask me about this, the big sillies.

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Morning everyone - I’m really excited to be bringing you news of the next Oxygen Thief album and a brand new phase in the evolution of my sound.

I started off solo acoustic with Destroy It Yourself…then went full band with Accidents Do Not Happen, They Are Caused…so the next logical progression is……..

THE OXYGEN THIEF BIG BAND!

Entitled “The Shape Of Swing To Come” the album will have a range of re-reinterpretations of material from previous releases and covers of classic standards like what your mum listens to, all in the style invented by Michael Bublé.

It will also feature a plethora of guest appearances from across the Xtra Mile roster including;

> Ben Marwood on “Me And My Shadow” (he being very much the Jonathan Wilkes to my Robbie Williams)

> Chris T-T taking the Reese Witherspoon vocal in our version of the classic Bublé duet “Something Stupid”

> Frank Turner on a slightly ill-judged-but-we’re-gonna-use-it-anyway cover of Westlife’s “Mack The Knife” which he recorded in full furious Mongol Horde style (yet still wearing a full tuxedo in keeping with the album theme)

I’m so excited about this record - it has to be heard to be believed - you’d be a fool not to head straight to www.xtramilerecordings.com and preorder it.

In the meantime, I’m currently on tour in what may be the final solo acoustic shows I ever play once this takes off and we hit the concert halls of the UK and beyond - catch me while you can at:

01/04: Cellar 35, Aberdeen 02/04: Cerberus, Dundee 03/04: Opium, Edinburgh 04/04: Fox & Newt, Leeds 13/04: JT Soar, Nottingham 14/04: Star & Garter, Manchester 15/04: Grain Store, Wolverhampton 16/04: Grumpy Whiskers, Cheltenham 29/04: The Exchange, Bristol

OT