Easily Read

Rough Trade is more well known as a music store. They also sell various books, so it was a good setting for the UK launch of The Third Script book; a volume of short stories from writers in the UK, Tasmania and Iran.

My friend Matt has a story in it called Tom's Eyes. It's a true story about a terrifying adventure he had some time ago, when he went to live abroad.  Some of the other writes are in the photo, together with some others who read extracts from a couple of the Iranian and Tasmanian stories, as obviously they couldn't be there in person.

Also in the photo at the very back is screenwriter William Ivory, well known for the film 'Made in Dagenham', which was about a strike at Fords in the late 1960s over equal pay for women. And also at the back is none other than our very own official Robin Hood, who spoke for about five minutes about how good it was to live in Nottingham.

One of my favourite local bands The Madeline Rush played three new songs, acoustically this time. Which were of course very good. I bet they should a lot more grungier with their guitars plugged into their amps.

Lucy

I went to see my favourite local band The Madeline Rust tonight at Rough Trade; a record store that opened earlier this year. It was quite an intimate gig, as the space wasn't large, but the devoted audience loved it. As they usually do. The band have quite a faithful following of friends and fans alike.

Here's Lucy, the singer and bassist with the band. Whilst she sports a unique, dramatic look, she's one of the loveliest people I know. Her hubby Gavin, also photographs the band in action, and we often do a sort of photographic dance, as we move around and swap places at the front of the stage, to get different views of the action.

The whole band are great fun to chat to, and I do hope that they get the opportunity of going on to bigger things with bigger audiences, as I think they are as good, if not better than some of the headline bands that are out there these days. But that's just my biased opinion.

Head Up Display

Being a clothes shop/tailors, One B.C had some quirky artefacts around the store.

I took a few photos of them whilst I was waiting for The Madeline Rust to start. I particularly like this stags head which is high up on one of the walls. I think that it looks very effective with the shadow and lights dancing around it.

Lucy And The Amazing Leather Dreamcoat

I went to see my favourite band The Madeline Rust last night, at a very unusual venue. Not a pub, restaurant or club, but a clothes shop, situated in Sneinton Market.

The shop is run by a husband & wife partnership and they design and make the clothes themselves, bespoke; hence the shop's name One B.C: bespoke clothing.

They had made a special leather outfit for Lucy, the singer and bassist in the band, and last night was the unveiling metaphorically speaking, when they played for about an hour and Lucy got to show off their creation, complete with skulls, guns and roses.

The Fab Four

Here's a shot of local band The Madeline Rust that I took the other night at Oxjam's rock night at a pub in Beeston.

They were excellent as usual, and introduced a couple of new songs to the appreciative audience.

There were also another three bands playing on the night; I Am Jupiter, These Skies and Paradise Pill.

I don't know how much money was raised on the night, but it will go towards the final figure that will be raised during the Oxjam music festival in October.

Badge Of Honour

The Madeline Rust really care about their fans as not only do they provide free earplugs, but also free badges at their gigs.

I have one on my camera bag. Which incidentally is the only one on there.

Tunes

Popped into a local record shop called Plates this afternoon, to see one of my favourite local rock bands called The Madeline Rust play as part of the shops' music day, interesting called Analogue Excursions.

There are usually seven members in the band, but as there was only enough space for the three main members, Lucy, Aly and Martin. They did most of their songs from their album, which was well received by the audience.

Besides a couple of photographers taking photos, Lucy was being filmed by her work, for a project that they are doing, regarding what their employees get up to when they are not in the office. I bet there can't be that many that play and sing in a band.

What I Would Miss..

The first of February and so I thought it would be an ideal opportunity to make a return to publishing my daily blog from Nottingham, as I've taken a break from it for a while.

It's also the theme day and this month's theme is "What would I miss if I left Nottingham?"  Well for me it would be the music scene. I've seen some really great bands and musicians over the past few years, such as The Disco Prophets, One Girl, One Boy, Emma Blaydon-Jones and The Madeline Rust, amongst many others.

My photo shows Lucy, the singer and bassist from The Madeline Rust, who I saw for the first time in concert back in August, at their debut album launch at a city centre club.

This is Not Madeline

No, this is not Madeline, her name is Lucy and she is the singer and bass guitarist with local rock band The Madeline Rust.

Although they are based in Beeston, Gail & I went to see them at a gig last night in Litchfield, which is in the West Midlands.

Of course they were as good as when I saw them in the city centre in August, although the venue wasn't as well lit, so I had to increase the ISO a bit to make the images useable.

Rusty Metal

I had the great pleasure of seeing Beeston band The Madeline Rust perform their new album Truth and Consequences in full tonight at a gig in the city centre.

Although I have heard of the band before, I have never seen them play live, even though the three main members of the band live only a stones throw away from my house. Please don't try to prove it either guys!

 Lucy has a really powerful voice, even though she's slim and only about five feet tall. She can scream out their lyrics the same way that a sergeant major might yell out orders to his men.

It was quite a small room they played in, but it was packed, and so it soon became like a sauna. But the beer was good, and the music loud, and I got some what I like to think were some good shots.

Of course I bought the album, which comes in red vinyl and is limited to 329 copies. It isn't going to be available on CD, but the album comes with a code, so you can download the songs, so you can listen to them digitally.

Here's a WEBLINK to a video of their latest single, and highlight of the album.