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 26thJuly 2001

There's not a great deal of news this week - we played a short set last Sunday at Bar 8 in Sheffield, starting with Send No Money Now, followed by Take It From Me, then Nice Try and finishing with Said And Done.  The songs really seemed to go down well - in fact we even got a couple of people dancing (very nice looking girls apparently;  I can neither confirm or deny this as I was stuck behind my drum kit).  Hopefully, this is the first of many gigs we'll be playing this summer.  We'll keep you posted with full details of when we're on.


After a practice last night, we nailed a new song - I can't remember what it was called, but it rocks like a mother and is already sounding great.  It's a lot of fun to play as well, even in our sauna-like practice room.  We've got so many songs that are starting to come together now - the four we played last week, the new one, then there's Follow My Star, F.A.Q., Reperconcussion... the list is growing.  Hopefully, we'll be trotting off to the studio soon to record a demo, so there should be something for you to hear soon :)

Also, I'm currently working on building a website for the band (see, we're dead technological, us), so that'll be something else to clutter up your favourites list.


That's about it for this week, I hope you've enjoyed reading it (I've enjoyed writing it;  it's certainly more fun than working, which is what I'm supposed to be doing).  
 30thAugust 2001

Sorry about the delay inbetween the last newsletter and this one, but it's been all systems go for us... well, in one sense it has.  Matt has moved house, so he's been busy doing all those moving house type things, Alx has been seeking gainful employment (and congratulations to him, he's got it!) and Jim has been pondering the meaning of the universe in bed at night.  Also, we've changed practice rooms - we're now at Yellow Arch Studios (more of which later).  We'd like to thank Karen and everyone at the Collective for putting up with us and running the place - and we'll hopefully see you again soon.

Next Friday (7th September), we'll be in the studio (the aforementioned Yellow Arch studio) recording some music - 3 tracks, in fact.  We're all really excited about it, if a little nervous (Jim and Al have been in a studio once before when the band was in one of it's previous incarnations, named "MuDeSo", but Matt is still very much a virgin when it comes to studio time).  The main problem we're facing is that we've got so many songs to choose from, we just don't know which 3 should make it onto this demo.  Well actually, we're all pretty much in agreement that 'Nothing To Declare' should go on there, but there's so many other good ones too - 'Reperconcussion', 'Said And Done', 'Send No Money Now', 'Nice Try'...  it's an embarrassment of riches, and it's proving to be a bit of a headache :)  Still, I'm sure we'll be able to thrash it out.

Anyway, the upshot of this demo-recording business is that a) you'll be able to hear our music recorded in glorious quality, by simply sending us a nominal fee in return for a compact disc bearing our name, and b) we should be able to get some gigs with it, so for those of you who live in or around Sheffield, you'll be able to see us in a live environment.  And possibly purchase drinks for us. :)

That's about it for this installment - I'll be able to tell you more and give you more gossip etc. after our next practice (we're practicing next Wednesday, then we've got Thursday off, then in the studio on Friday, so next Thursday's mail will probably be unreadable due to our terror when writing it).  Oh yeah - I hope you like the desktop wallpapers I've included in here - now you can endorse SMG in your home, at the office or at school :)  And just think, when we're like REALLY famous, you'll be able to say 'Well they sent this to me when they were still doing demos.  Which I have also got.  Do you want to pay me 5 grand for it?'  See, we think about you...





 10thSeptember 2001

Hello everyone,

Once again, please let us apologise for the delay in getting this newsletter.  We know we promised one last Thursday, before we went into the studio, but what with a) Matt's notoriously slack nature, b) the amount of time he's been spending on coding the forthcoming website (Yes!  SMGWeb is on it's way!) and c) the complete terror that he was feeling about going into the studio, he didn't manage to get round to writing it.  So a slapped wrist for Matt - and we've learned our lesson too...  we're not going to promise to deliver another newsletter on a specific date.  It'll arrive... whenever.

So onto the news.  It's been quite exciting really - we had a practice last Wednesday at Yellow Arch, and we were rather horrified to learn that Nothing To Declare, the song that we had all thought was 'the one' as far as recording went, sounded a bit lacklustre... maybe it was because we'd come straight from work to the practice room but we seemed to be a little lacking for the first half.  However, we managed to come back from it, and after a short break we were rocking like a mother again, which was heartening.  We blasted through the songs, and we played them better than ever before - even Nothing To Declare worked second time through.  We also had a look at a new song Jim had written - slow, chilled, very melodic and nice - and that sounds promising.

Afterwards, we went to the pub, and laughed at all the CAMRA losers in there, talking about Belgian whitbiers and suchlike. And then got shouted at for stacking some non-stack glasses.  Suitably admonished, we went home (where we discovered that England had beaten Albania 2-0, putting us top of the group.  The woman behind the bar in the pub refused to tell us the score, as it wasn't really that kind of pub) and started preparing for Friday.

So, Friday.  Well, we all turned up and started setting up everything - building the drum kit, putting the guitar amps in a soundproof closet, putting blanking flats around the drums to prevent bleed and unwanted reverb - it was certainly a learning experience.  After we'd sorted out all the boring stuff, and Colin Elliot, our friendly producer/engineer had made us a cup of tea to settle our nerves, we started playing.

We went through the backing tracks (drums, bass and one guitar track) for the three songs we were doing - which ended up being, in order - Reperconcussion, Send No Money Now, and, due to the tossing of a coin, Said And Done instead of Nothing To Declare - with Matt making plenty of mistakes - missing beats here, dropping his sticks there - but we eventually loosened up a bit and starting playing properly.  After this, it was time to lay down the extra guitar tracks to give the songs more body, and the improvement was already incredible.  After that, Matt played a bit of piano on Reperconcussion, a new facet to the song that had been ad-libbed only that morning (it's difficult to write piano and keyboard parts when sat behind a drum kit) and then we recorded our vocal parts.

We all though, 'ooh, that sounds alright', and went for a walk so that Colin could weave his engineer type magic on the tracks and also so that we could take some pics for the CD sleeve (very nice pics of us looking moody in doorways etc - ever the masters of cliché) and discuss what order we should put the songs in on the CD.  When we came back, he played us the mixed version of Reperconcussion, and our respective jaws hit the floor...  none of us are engineers, so we don't know what it was that he did, but he increased the quality of the sound by about a million percent.  We were all dumbfounded.  This professional sounding band coming out of the speakers was us!  And then we did the same again, and again, and Colin came through twice more, making all our songs sound amazing.  We couldn't have asked for a better producer, and we left the studios, clutching our new CDs in our sweaty palms, three very excited and happy young men.
Of course, now you don't have to take our word for the quality of the CD.  If you want one, you can simply send a cheque or postal order to us, and we will send you one of these CDs, so you can hear for yourself.  If you'd like one, please send a cheque or postal order payable to Matthew Hindle to the value of £4 (to cover postage and printing costs) to this address:



Sunset Miniature Golf

90 Binsted Grove

Wadsley Bridge

Sheffield

South Yorkshire

S6 5BJ

ENGLAND



and we'll pop one in the post for you.  We've already dropped one off, down at Bar 8 in Sheffield so that we can hopefully get a gig there.  As ever, we'll keep you posted about it, and we hope to see you there.


Anyway, that's about it for this week - as we said before, we'll not give an exact date for the next thrillig installment, but it should be next week sometime.  Thanks for reading, and take care,





 18thSeptember 2001


SHOCK!  HORROR!  Guess who's got a gig!  A proper gig too, at a proper venue - not like that one we did at Bar 8!  That's right, it's Crashland, everyone's favourite new Muse-supporting band.  But perhaps more importantly, so have we, on the same bill as Crashland in fact.  Yes, next Wednseday at the National Centre for Popular Music in Sheffield, we will be taking part in the Barfly live music experience that's coming to our city, playing as the support act for the aforementioned band.  There's a band called The Sound (whom we haven't heard, but we're sure are pretty good), then us from 9:30om until 10pm, then Crashland are taking the stage (but what an act to follow, eh - I don't envy them trying to outdo us...)
Anyway, we'd like as many people to come to the gig as possible (obviously really), especially as we promised the promoters that we'd be able to bring 50 people ourselves, so any support you could give us would be GREATLY appreciated (and lets not forget that you'll get to see us play live, and also that the venue serves Hoegaarden...) Tickets are available from the venue at a price of £4 (although I may possibly be able to get some flyers printed that allow people entry at only £3, so that'll be more money for beer and/or rotten vegetables to throw at us).  For more information email us here or look on our website (yes! it's up!) at 

www.oocities.org/sunsetminiaturegolf

or alternatively look at the Barfly site at 

www.barflyclub.com


In other news, we've been sending out the demo cds like there was no tomorrow - we NEED people to hear us, you see, so that we can become all famous and stuff and not have to queue at Somerfield anymore.  The reactions so far have been encouraging - and Said and Done is coming out clear favourite.  It's still available if anyone wants a copy (we've got a cd duplicating machine at work that does 6 at a time, which is a boon) - see our website (or the last newsletter) for the address.  Hopefully this gig at Barfly will be the first of many - in fact, there's a possibility we might get a gig at the Barfly venues in London or Cardiff, dependent on how many people attend this one... which would be nice.  Very nice.  I've never been to Cardiff.

We've also been practising hard too, still at the Yellow Arch studio complex, polishing the songs that we've already got and working on some new stuff too, in particular a new song called Let There Be Light.  That song is sounding so good... it's the one I mentioned in the last newsletter which is nice and chilled and melodic, but it's changed a bit and has more meat to it now.  It's top - and we can't wait to try it out on a fresh pair (or preferably about a hundred pairs) of ears, so look out - we might play it next Wednesday.


Anyway, that's it for this week - I've got to go and update the website (bear in mind when viewing it that most pics on there are just place holders until I get the photos Al took next Sunday and scan them) to include this gig and put this newsletter on.  No rest for the w-w-w-w-wicked, I suppose.


Thanks for reading, and hopefully we'll see you next Wednesday!


 4thOctober 2001

As is now customary in these occasional epistles, please let me begin by saying sorry for the delay, especially as I'm hoping that some of you are eagerly expecting news of our gig last Wednesday.  But as ever, there's been plenty to do around the Sunset Miniature Golf parts (tending to the green, polishing the flag-poles, hoovering the club-house) and this is the first chance I've had (well, the first chance I've had when not suffering from a the effects of alcohol) to actually write this newsletter.  I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me.

First off, the gig went very well, from our point of view at least.  We had been told that there were three bands booked - fellow Sheffield band TheSound were to be first up (featuring the younger brother of one of my older brother's mates on lead guitar, coincidentally), followed by us, followed by the main act, Crashland.  What's that saying about the best laid plans of mice and men?  Well anyway, we ended up being rescheduled, and not being told that they'd put another band, Dolium, on after us.  The bastards.  Anyway, Dolium did their soundcheck first (despite turing up late;  the reason for them going first was that they had a left-handed drummer so it made sense to do us and TheSound back to back and I think TheSound were too lowly to not be last on the list), then we did ours, then TheSound did theirs while we went to the train station to get some sustenance (the only food that passed my lips on that day was an egg mayonnaise sandwich - no wonder my guts were in such a state the next day). 
 Crashland still hadn't turned up;  this was slightly worrying as they were the headline act and they hadn't soundchecked, nor would they have time to now.  We were rather hoping that the promoters might extend our set, but unfortunately, as they didn't know whether Crashland were going to turn up or not, they had to honour their slot and hope for the best.

Anyway, TheSound took to the stage, and were technically ok, but not really my kind of thing - very, very influenced by Oasis.  And I mean VERY.  Still, I kept running down to our dressing room (yes, we had a dressing room with our own private lavatories - how rock and roll is that?) and wandering around talking to people who'd come to see us, so I didn't have to take much notice.  Then it was our turn.

I can't remember a great deal about it - I can remember that it was very hot;  and that the heat was making sweat from my head mix with my hair-gel and sting my eyes, and I can remember my arms hurting at one point, and I can remember when James broke a string and Alx and myself tried to keep the crowd entertained by playing improvised jazz while James endeavoured to tune up the spare guitar (alas, we had forgotten to do so beforehand).  All in all, I think we sounded better than ever before - the drums in Reperconcussion were in time, for once - and it was certainly a lot of fun to do.  But it seemed to be over too quickly (we played 7 songs, see the Gigography for more details) and that was that.  Still, I can't wait to play again.  Hopefully, I'll have learned not to gurn quite so badly as I play by next time.

Well, to cut a long story short regarding the rest of the gig, after we'd played, James was despondent for a while (as is his wont) before bouncing back.  We had a few beers, Dolium took to the stage and almost immediately left it after being heckled (and they got into trouble from the promoters for throwing a chair at someone in the crowd, the massive wankers), and then we went to the Leadmill with our new found friends.

Our new found friends are our new manager, Kathy Karadimas from Australia - she's a student and is working with us (as it's helpful to her course, and naturally to us too) until she goes back to Melbourne - and her house mates Rachel and Tracy (and I hope to God I've spelled those right).  Anyway, they're all very lovely and we're glad to have made their acquaintances - even though Rachel supports Sheffield Wednesday and Tracy supports Man United.  Nobody's perfect, I guess.  A good night was had by all.

A special mention must also go out to Rich Hutton and his friends who came to see us - they were extremely supportive, and have told us how good we were until our heads can barely fit through the front door.  It was wonderful to see them all there, and I can't thank them enough for their support and kind words.  We are also very grateful for the support that Keiren Lalria and Helene Bradley have offered - as well as all our other friends in Sheffield and all over.  It won't be forgotten. See you at the next gig, guys!

Well that about wraps up this thrilling installment.  I hope you all enjoyed it, and if I've forgotten to mention anyone, or any of you have any questions about any aspect of Sunset Miniature Golf, please feel free to drop us a line.  We'd love to hear from you.  Or, alternatively, sign our guestbook.  I'm looking at the possibility of putting a messageboard on there, if enough people show interest in our site (at the moment, I'm not really in any danger of exceeding my bandwidth).  But anyway.  I need to get back to work now - these games won't test themselves, you know...


 Reviews 


Comments about  Something To Show You, the demo CD


 Excellent feedback.  We'll put some actual quotes up soon.


Live Reviews


Well, the Bar 8 gig went down well.  We'll see how the Barfly one @ the NCPM goes.
































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