Lets all laugh at the bands I like.....

So my friend Robyn wants me to answer some question about my music taste... which is obviously because it's so great and not at all because she wants to laugh at me. I don't see anything wrong with the fact that I love Mcfly, The Killers and (not even that secretly...) Kanye West, along with the Arctic Monkeys, Biffy Clyro and Nirvana. I'm just all about encouraging diversity... mainly on my iPod, and yes, I did just put it on shuffle and the first song that came on was Starlight, by Taylor Swift. What do you mean you don't like that song...?!?!

Anyway...

Which bands/artist do you own the most albums by?
I own everything recorded by The Killers and I think all the Biffy Clyro albums as well. I also have a whole lot of Taylor Swift OF COURSE. As well as that I have tons of my dad's music - so basically a lot of Oasis and Bruce Springsteen albums. I told you it was diverse...

What was the last song you listened to?
I'm writing this while watching the Gilmore Girls, but the last thing I listened to was either Vampire Weekend's album Modern Vampires of the City, Boys in Books, by Carrie Hope Fletcher or a band called Moose Blood that I discovered the other day. Someone I follow on twitter posted a song by them and I listened and fell in love with the lyrics....

I guess I'll never know why you closed the window,
Start reading Hemingway, start drinking cups of Earl Grey
then I guess maybe one day.. I'll be yours forever....

What’s in your CD player right now?
I don't have a CD player anymore - who does?! - but I used to and I miss it to be honest. I still own loads of CDs and mostly I just cut up the sleeves to add to my wall of posters and tickets. The last thing I played from my iPod speakers was The Velvet Underground & Nico's debut album, from 1967.

What was the last show you attended?
The last concert I saw was Biffy Clyro who played a show in my town at G-live on October 28th. It was amazing, the band were incredible, the crowd were insane, I crowd surfed for the second time and basically just had a great night. They are such an good band live, definitely see them if you ever get a chance to.

What was the greatest show you’ve ever been to?
That's a really hard question because every show I've been to was amazing at the time. I think the best one ever was when I saw The Killers at the O2 in 2012 with my best friend. My mum came to it with us - because we share our amazing taste in bands - and her dad bought us the tickets and I have honestly never been so excited for anything in my life. We had seats right up high but even though the arena is huge, the atmosphere was fantastic. We screamed and danced to every song and even though the tour was for their Battle Born album, they played tons of their old stuff and loads of my favourite songs. I think they started with Mr Brightside and from start to finish it was the loudest show I've ever seen, despite how far away we were. In fact I think my ears are still ringing just thinking about it. I'm wearing the tour t-shirt right now. Okay, definitely the best show I've seen. A close second was when I went to Mcfly, I'm not joking: I laughed, I cried, I danced and it was fab.

 
What’s the worst show you’ve ever been to?
Hmm, its either the time I ended up seeing a really terrible scream band for reasons I do not remember, possibly temporary insanity. Anyway it was awful and we ended up leaving mid-way through... trust me, we didn't miss much. Or it was one of the various shows I've seen with my family at the music festival in the tiny town where my grandparents live. Think of granddads with beards and banjos, and although its fun to go and see my cousins and go to the beach, its not exactly my idea of musical heaven.

What’s the most musically involved you have ever been?
I used to do dance and performing arts (before I became a teenager and realised I should never be seen singing in public EVER) and we used to do loads of shows and at the time it was really fun. I was in Annie as a little orphan kid, a show called "Simply The Best!" (don't even ask..) and one for my dance school's 25th anniversary celebration. Try not to laugh too much but one time we had to wear clown outfits.... while singing. I know, I know, I was like twelve at the time, its all in the past.

What show are you looking forward to?
I'm just about dying of excitement to see Taylor Swift in February on the Red Tour. I'm planning on buying a t-shirt, a poster, any other merch I can get my hands on, dancing like a crazy fan-girl, taking a million and one pictures, completely freaking out and singing along to every song.

What is your favourite band shirt?
Either my Killers t-shirt which is beautiful and really soft and lovely or my gorgeous new Twin Atlantic t-shirt. I have a thing for Scottish bands at the moment and I saw them at Reading Festival this year. They did a really good set, despite it being a bit rainy and I ordered the t-shirt online, rather than spend my train fare home buying it at the festival, although trust me, I was tempted to. The only other one I have is Nirvana, but its too big for me and doesn't have memories attached to it of actually experiencing the band. It is pretty though!

What musician would you like to hang out with for a day?
I would love love love to meet Alex Turner from Arctic Monkeys because I am just completely in love with him so I could say him, but there are so many other options too! Like its a really obvious answer but everyone would want to meet Kurt Cobain (obviously impossible) and personally I would want to hang out with The Killers or Stevie Nicks. I also really got into Haim recently and they seem really cool and fun as well as talented, so that's another one.

Who is one musician or group you wish would make a comeback?
I would love for Oasis to reform! And I wish Lou Reed wasn't dead, I got into him via The Killers because his vocals are on one of the tracks from Sam's Town and his voice and lyrics are brilliant.

Who is one band/artist you’ve never seen live but always wanted to?
I've never seen Arctic Monkeys and I've wanted to for ages, hopefully I will do one day. There are lots I'd like to have seen, and sadly one of the members is usually dead. It would have been amazing to see The Smiths but that's never going to happen either - although I did get to see Johnny Marr play.

What are your top 5 favourite bands? 
Right. At the moment...
The Killers.
Biffy Clyro.
Arctic Monkeys.
Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls
and probably Twin Atlantic.

Name four or more flawless albums:
The Velvet Underground & Nico (self-titled record).
Rumours by Fleetwood Mac is perfection.
Dookie by Greenday. They played the whole thing straight through at Reading and I remembered how much I loved it when I first heard it aged about thirteen.
Hot Fuss by The Killers is one of the best albums I've ever heard.
I don't know... if its just about a flawless album then The XX's first one is unbelievably beautiful.

How many music related videos/DVDs do you own?
I don't actually know if I own any - I watch stuff online rather than buying it and I would rather buy an album than a book. I watched a documentary about The Rolling Stones about four times last year though and about a week ago I watched one about Jimi Hendrix - I just don't own any of them. And honestly, I'm pretty tempted to read Morrissey's book, although maybe I'll just wait until someone I can borrow it from buys it....

How many concerts/shows have you been to, total?
God, I actually don't know! Okay, the first proper one was The Killers, then last year I saw P!nk, I went to Capital Summertime Ball (because Taylor was playing!), I saw The 1975, Frank Turner, The Pogues and I've seen stuff at Guil-fest like Kids in Glass Houses. And then more recently I've seen Mcfly, Paul Weller, Biffy Clyro, Tall Ships, The First and then I saw loads of bands at Reading in the summer: like Frank Turner again, Greenday, Jake Bugg, Johnny Marr, Foals, Alt-J, and Biffy.

Who have you seen the most live?
Frank Turner wins because I've seen him three times: twice at a festival and once supporting someone else, does that count?. But then I've seen The Killers and Biffy both twice so I don't know, one of those three.

What is your favourite movie soundtrack?
Probably The Perks of Being a Wallflower. But 10 Things I Hate About You, 500 Days of Summer and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist definitely make the list as well. Good music = good film.

What was your last musical “phase” before you wisened up?
Oh god, I'm so not "wisened up" yet! Hahahaha I still listen to Mcfly and loads of rubbish stuff. But I like so many different bands, I don't really have phases. I'm always discovering something new and it keeps life interesting. I have phases of listening to something a lot and then forgetting it for about a year and then going OH YEAH I LOVE BLONDIE and then re-listen with fresh ears. Its nice.

What’s your “guilty pleasure” that you hate to admit to liking?
I don't hate to admit to anything if I genuinely like it! Probably the one that I would be laughed at the most for is how much I like Kanye West, HE'S REALLY TALENTED, OKAY! Yeezus is a great album, I will stand up for that opinion. There's not too much else really.

Leave a comment if you feel like answering any of these questions yourself - I won't tag anyone but if you enjoyed reading and want to do your own post please tell me because I would love to hear about other people's favourite bands, guilty pleasures and best ever concert experiences.

xoxo

Some lovely little questions...

Ages ago I was tagged in one of those chain blog award things by another Jessica. So thank you Jess - and have a look at her blog because she does some amazing artwork! I've finally got round to writing the post - because who doesn't love answering some questions about themselves...?

The rules of this tag are:
1.The tagged/nominated blogs have to have under 200 followers.
2.Tag the blog that nominated you.
3.Tell the people you tag so they can respond.

And here are my answers.........



1. What inspired you to start a blog?

I was inspired to begin blogging after reading other people's blogs, which I know is a really boring response. It was also because I love writing and at the time I wasn't really that into using Facebook or Twitter so it was sort of a way to create a space for me to be creative and talk about things I was into, which I didn't really do in any other way on the internet at the time I started it.

2. If you could go back to any era for a day which time era would you go to?

I would visit the late 1960s and either go to London and see the Rolling Stones playing or I would want to go to one of the huge music festivals in America, either Monterey Pop or Woodstock. Honestly if I had a time machine seeing bands would be the only reason I would use it; the idea of mucking up the course of human history by accident really freaks me out and as much as we'd all like to think that *killing Hitler* (or insert other mass murderer etc.) would be a good thing, we can never know what effect changing things would have - it could be worse after all and that really scares me.

3. Cats or Dogs?

I'm not much of a fan of either but if forced to pick I'd say cat. I can't handle the level of emotional commitment a dog needs; sums up my life really.

4. What is your must have clothing item for Autumn?

A coat? Does that even count? I don't know really, I have some lovely new ankle boots but I can't walk properly in them and they're too pretty to take outside in the rain and puddles and ruin, so I'll go for my nice warm coat. That or a really snuggly jumper.



5. What is your favourite book?

Ugh so many! The Harry Potter books are probably my all time favourites as my entire childhood is measured in terms of waiting for the next books and films to come out. There are so many quotes that I love and the whole series means so much to me. One of my favourite places in the whole world is the Elephant Café in Edinburgh where J K Rowling wrote, and where I insisted on spending ages in when I visited Scotland! But I also love anything by John Green, The Perks of Being A Wallflower, The Great Gatsby, ummmm The Book Thief and On The Road are also two of my favourites, there are just far too many really! And don't mention I Capture The Castle to me and expect me not to get emotional... I sometimes think I prefer that book to reality.





6.What is your dream job?

A writer. Can you tell?

 

7. Is there anything you do that other people find weird?

I tend to be quite quiet... that is until you get to know me well. I can bend my thumbs back at a weird angle, apart from that I don't know, can't think of that many things. Try asking my friends.... they may have a different answer.

8. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?

Oh My God, so many places. Firstly, its obviously a huge cliché, but New York City. Then Paris, anywhere in Italy, Australia, India.... there are so many millions of places I want to go to, to be honest. I'm a bit in love with Scotland as so many of my favourite bands are from there, and there are also random places that I just want to travel to for no particular reason - like a particular lake in Russia, for example, or Seattle in America, and I also really want to go back to Poland again. Finally if I really could only pick one place it would have to be somewhere in Asia - maybe Japan, China or Thailand - because I lived in Hong King when I was little and have always wanted to go back there.

9. Must have make-up item?

I have to say eyeliner comes close, I love doing pretty winged or really messy smudgy eyes, but if you told me I could only use one make up item ever again it would be lip balm. My pet hate is having chapped lips and I'm constantly smearing on different flavours; my favourite at the moment is the Body Shop Spiced Vanilla which tastes exactly like Christmas. However, I probably couldn't live for long without most of my make up bag to be honest.

10. Favourite quote?

My current favourite quote is this one. I just think it makes a lot of sense and makes me feel better about being permanently in a bad mood about something.



 

Hopefully you enjoyed reading this post, a bit different from the usual really. I'm going to ask Lucy and Robyn to answer the same questions I was asked (because I'm too lazy to think up more but ssshhh.....)

 

xoxo

TEN THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU

I've found my favourite movie. I probably say this about once a week, or at least every time I watch another Heath Ledger film but I MEAN IT THIS TIME, OKAY!!!

Ten Things I Hate About You came out in 1999 so I have no idea why it took me this long to actually watch it. If this is you then please stop whatever you're doing right now and go see it.

Immediately.

I love it so much I don't think I can actually write about it properly. Instead, I'm just going to tell you 10 things I really, really don't hate about it.

10) It's based on a Shakespeare play and the high school the characters attend is named Padua High. I don't know why I love this, but it's just really cute. Also Patrick "Verona," like in Italy.




9) Kat and Bianca's dad is the best. You're probably supposed to hate him for, like, "OMG, totally ruining everything," but he really cares about his daughters and *spoiler* lets Kat go off to college in the end. I'm tearing up over here.

8) All (or most) of the characters are really smart and intelligent, which makes a nice change from watching teenagers portrayed in films as stupid and irresponsible. The obvious exceptions to this point are part of the plot so we can look past Joey and Chastity.


"Trust you to use long words when you're smashed."

7) JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT. I have nothing else to say about this except: He. Is. Adorable.

6) Mr Morgan. Why isn't he real and why isn't he teaching me English?

5) Bianca reminds me of my little sister. They're both annoying, attention-seeking and have this amazing ability to get exactly what they want but still manage to seem sweet and innocent. She's also definitely the best dressed one in the film.

4) The music. All of it is so good, from the Joan Jett song playing while Kat drives to school to the concert where he asks her out to the bands performing at the prom at the very end.

3) When he buys her the guitar and then kisses her and she just won't shut up interrupting to tell him what to do. I just can't deal with how much I love this bit you guys.

2) Julia Stiles. I think if I was 17 in the nineties rather than now she would be the girl I would secretly want to be but would be too shy to go be friends with. Because she is seriously scary. With great taste in books and music, but still terrifying.

And if you don't cry at her poem, you're either lying or just have no soul.

1) Heath Ledger. <3 <3 <3 And THIS. If it doesn't convince you to watch the film, then I don't think we can be friends.