18 December 2007
According to last.fm, I played 25 gigs in 2007. Yeah, I know I had to cancel Leeds, but I played two sets at Indietracks. Were there any that aren't on there? It seems odd that I didn't play at all in January or March. Anyway, 25 is more gigs in one calendar year than I've done in my whole life before, and is therefore still pretty woh-some. Woh! See? So my copious thanks if you came to, or indeed organised, any of the above. Three popshows are scheduled for 2008 already, as yon gigs page indicates, so let's keep it going in the new year and try and prove that 2007 wasn't some kind of outrageous freakish fluke.

That's all really. If you've not downloaded my Christmas live album yet, hurry along. But most of all, thanks again for being here, and merry Christmas! See you soon.

30 November 2007
I bloody love you. You're my best mate you are. No, I haven't been on the Xmas booze too early – I'm giving you a free live album, available for download right now! Yes. When I played the Cornubia in Bristol at the start of the month, the gig was very kindly recorded by Rocker from Dandelion Radio, and when he sent me a copy I thought, hmm, that's not bad, that – I'll make it a free live album, available for download right now! Hit the newly rejigged and expanded songs page to get your copy.

Reviews reviews. Speaking of the Hibbett ukulele tour, here is a very kind review of my 31 October gig in Manchester by Mr Miles Barter and here is a superlatively kind review of 'Sparkly' by Mr Warren Pilkington. Here also are Warren's photos from the tour. Ta, you chaps! The Atomic Beat Records special in Stoke last week was, well, special too – ta again to Pete and Ian for having us on and Markiellelogram for the lift (and the special song, you total bastard). Some pics are on the ABR photostream on that Flickr.

And of course, the Anthems From The Phantom compilation featuring 'Share Your Kit' and lots of other goodies is out now! You can find out more or order it at the Phantom Power Records website for the measly sum of £5.99. Go to, prithee!

Lastly, don't forget that the two gigs I've got in December are probably the last I'll be playing until February – so if you're missing a big dose of Petey goodness summat rotten, make sure you get along to see me this side of Christmas, alright?

9 November 2007
Cor, that tour was ace! It had trains, it had beer, it had monsters (OK, it had William 10p Mix dressed as Shaun out of Shaun of The Dead), it had, um, more trains and more beer, and three smashing bands joining up with me and that Hibbett, and a new song from me called 'One Monday Morning', and more trains and more beer, and aw, isn't Bristol lovely? The Hibster's blog is the best place to read all about it, really – ta again for having me along, Mark, and ta to everyone who played or came to see us and everything. Touring is the greatest fun!

Anyway, the next big thing to tell you is that 'Share Your Kit' is released on Monday 26 November, as the first track (the first track!) on a new compilation from Phantom Power Records. Ace, eh? There are some smashing bands on it – Balor Knights, Screaming Mimi, Plans and Apologies and the marvellous Lardpony – and it's limited to 250 copies but you'll also be able to buy it on that iTunes thingy. I think that's it anyway. I'll post some proper links about buying it when there's something to link to!

So, yeah, there's a launch gig for that in Sheffield on Thursday 6 December, then I'm playing in Nottingham a week later, but this month there's a popshow in Stoke and... oh, just go to the gigs page, eh?

Finally, as of today we have now sold 224 copies of 'Everything I Do is Gonna be Sparkly'! Well, OK, some of them were technically given away rather than sold – like at the Manchester gig last week when a girl in the audience kept getting phone calls and I went and stood right in front of her to play and she got dead embarrassed and I felt guilty so I gave her a freebie – but either way, that means there are just... um... start>All Programs>Accessories>Calculator... 176 copies left. If you've not got one yet, better get your skates on before the Christmas rush!

30 September 2007
Well, there are about 15 minutes remaining of September, which was meant to be my month of resting up from the twock – and very nearly was, until two nights ago when I found myself catapulted into the limelight of Stoke-on-Trent's throbbing indiepop scene! Visiting the Glebe as a civilian, to watch a popshow with the Manhattan Love Suicides, Horowitz and Balor Knights, I was pressed into service to replace the Balors, who'd had to cancel that day. Barely having played a note since the end of August's heavy gigging schedule, I was proper rusty, but I derived considerable rock power from borrowing Ian Horowitz's mighty electric guitar and turned out five songs to a standard that bordered on the acceptable; so much so that I even got a hug from the cute bassist out of the MLS. Kerrrazy!

October has suddenly become a month of intense giggage, with popshows in Nottingham, Sheffield and Oxford and a mini-tour with MJ Hibbett in Glasgow, Manchester and Bristol. I've never even been to Scotland in my whole life! It's gonna be brilliant. Check out the tour dates and come along if you can!

8 September 2007
Right then! I'll tell you what I've been recording. 'Share Your Kit', that's what – it's going to appear on a compilation released later this year by Sheffield's Phantom Power Records. It's got a bit of mandolin and a Benny Hill comedy whistle sound! I've also been recording some other odds and sods with a view to another single and maybe an album next year if anyone wants to release them for me. If you do, get in touch!

I'm also about to record some backing vocals for a track on my good friend MJ Hibbett's forthcoming solo album – I'll tell you all about that when it comes out. I'll tell you now though: I'm mighty flattered to be asked! This must be what it feels like to be Amelia Fletcher.

Speaking of singles, which we were in the paragraph before last, 'Everything I Do is Gonna be Sparkly' has been shifting a few units – including in Luxembourg. Taste my market penetration, baby! If you've not bought it yet, get your skates on, because it's sure to be sold out within minutes of you reading this page, especially with the lavish coverage recently, er, lavished upon Atomic Beat Records by the Grimsby Telegraph! It's true – look!

Another Sheffield popshow has been added to my popshow schedule. It's gonna be at the Red House on Saturday 13 October (ooh, but don't forget the Nottingham one first, on Wednesday 3 October); the details are yet to be confirmed but I've put it on the gigs page anyway, just because it was looking a bit bare over there.

By way of conclusion here is a gratuitous picture of me and Dan Pocketbooks sparklerocking the Grapes on 31 August. Give it some of that!

14 August 2007
Just a quick one, this: I've started recording but I'm not telling you what yet, and we still haven't got a replacement headliner for the Sheffield gig on 31 August (MJ Hibbett has had to cancel), so I couldn't tell you that even if I wanted to. I will, however, be playing with MJH at a second London gig in two days later this month, totally acoustic, at the Lamb, the night before my Slender Club popshow in Tufnell Park: see the popshows page for details.

And this isn't really news as such, but Mr Hibbett has got me to write Eight Things You May Not Have Known About Me. The last thing he got me to do was stand up instead of sit down when I play live, and that worked out quite well, so I thought I'd go with it.

2 August 2007
Crikey! I dunno where to start with telling you about Indietracks, it was so bloody fantastic. The best place to start is probably this great review on the indie-mp3 site, especially as it is dead nice about me! There are hundreds and hundreds of photos online too: start with this one of me twocking out on the train and follow the indietracks tag, I guess. Playing on the Pocketbooks singalong was the best fun ever... and I was mighty pleased with how my special new Indietracks song went (I've added the lyrics for 'Hey Dr Beeching' to the site for students of indiepop railwayaniaiainaia).

So yeah... massive thanks to Stuart for having me on and to everyone who came to see me, and also to Mr Sam Tastyzine Metcalf and the Nottinghammers for Friday's also-bloody-ace gig with Cats on Fire and Lardpony and Mascot Fight at the Rescue Rooms. Wooo and, indeed, woooo!

What next? More popshows, that's what. While I've been typing this, I've been asked to complete a Slender Club line-up at Tufnell's in north That London later this month! Then I return to bloody That Birmingham for a turn at the Bohemian Jukebox night, hosted by cuddly Ben Calvert, and then the ever-charming Pocketbooks are coming up to share their first Sheffield popshow with me. After that there's a bill of five (five!) solo people at Lee Rosy's in Nottingham and a lovely P-based line-up in Stoke-on-Trent with Pocketbooks again and the brilliant Parallelograms. Look, see, here: details.

Meanwhile, the lovely folks at Sheffield's own Phantom Power Records have asked me to contribute a track to a compilation they're putting out in November-ish, and I've just re-read their email and they want it by 24 August so I'd best get me skates on and record it really, and decide which song to record, but not in that order, obviously.

Oooh, and there's a most sympathetic and enthusiastic review of the single on This Is Fake DIY. Here it is. Thankyou, Becky Ross!

19 June 2007
Just a quickie to let you know I'm playing in Birmingham on 28 August (see the gigs page for full details) and I now have a time for my appearance at Indietracks: 2:30pm on the Saturday, on the church stage. If you don't come to Indietracks, by the way, then you are a crazy fool of the first water.

Oh, and 'The Ballad of Phil Jevons' has been made track 7 on the In Love With These Times In Spite of These Times mix CD, compiled to celebrate Bristol Rovers' promotion to the third division. This may be due as much to Jevons having been linked with a transfer to Rovers as to the actual merits of the song, but getting a nice write-up from the brilliant ILWTT must rank pretty close to praise from the godlike Helen Love (see below). Life is good!

11 June 2007
Helen Love likes my record! I guess if you want your all-time pop hero of all time to like your record, then it's probably a good start to release it on a label named after one of her songs, but even so, I can now die happy. An insider at the Atomic Beat Records corporation tells me it's selling pretty well, which is a bonus. So if you've bought it, ta very much; if you haven't, do so now or I'm telling my mum.

If you like you can download an mp3 of 'I Haven't Got a Myspace Because Myspace Fucking Sucks' from this website under a Creative Commons licence; this means you can also play and distribute it as much as you like for any non-commercial purpose. Podcasts away! Oh, you need to know where from, possibly. It's the songs page.

And finally, a cat got stuck up a tree but someone helped it down. And thanks to everyone who came to the single launch gig at That London's Buffalo Bar and the coostick night at the Grapes at the weekend, and there are new gigs coming up in Sheffield and Nottingham, on the gigs page. Look!

15 May 2007
Right then. My debut solo single, 'Everything I Do is Gonna be Sparkly', is out now! I celebrated the release last night by staying in for the double bill of Corrie. You can go one better and come to the launch gig in London on 25 May, or to any of my other upcoming gigs up north. The very wonderful new Atomic Beat Records website will tell you a multitude of ways in which you can buy it, including new-fangled digital downloads (and buy the Pocketbooks one while you're at it), though if you're lucky enough to live in Sheffield you can buy it at Forever Changes. Or you can when I've taken some copies round to Chris's house, anyway. I was gonna go tonight but my veg box was delivered late because the lad who normally does it was off work with a double whammy of being dumped on the same day Sheffield United got relegated. Poor James. But, y'know, wahey for the single and stuff!

I'm sure there was a load of other stuff to tell you but this has taken ages and I'm a bit drunk and sleepy now. What the hell. See you at the Buffalo Bar!

20 March 2007
Wuh! I am playing the Indie Tracks festival at the end of July. It will be the best indiepop festival ever. And, double wuh! I'm sort of putting a gig on at the Red House in Sheffield next month! See the gigs page for what details exist so far. Wuh!

18 March 2007
Doesn't time fly when you rock?

Firstly, we have a release date for the single, 'Everything I do is Gonna be Sparkly'. It will be officially out and everything on 30 April. Woo and, indeed, hoo! At some point between now and then you will be able to order online from the Atomic Beat Records website. In fact you should go there now anyway and sign up for the mailing list. And buy the Pocketbooks single too, cos it is fab.

Nextly, there are some gigs coming up in Sheffield, Nottingham and London, so open your diary and hit the gigs page, like, now. Actually, no, read the rest of this news bit first; otherwise you might miss it.

And you do not want to miss it, for 'I Haven't Got a Myspace Because Myspace Fucking Sucks' appears on a new compilation cd, the rather brilliantly entitled They Wanna Make a T-Shirt Outta Yr Dreams. It features some of my other favourite people such as Lardpony and MJ Hibbett & the Validators and comes packaged with a lovely cloth/safety pin combo. You can order it online through the website of the label, Cowboy Democracy (£4 including postage), and listen on last.fm. Ace!

Lastly, there is a nice review of my recent gig at Sheffield University in the new issue of Sandman magazine, so copious thanks to Mat Gladstone for that. I don't know if it's the done thing to publicly thank reviewers for nice reviews, but I want to anyway. I didn't buy him pints all night or anything like that, honest!

OK. Now you can hit the gigs page. Bye!

4 January 2007
Right! Neeeeews! Newsnewsnewsnewsnews.

Look! I'm doing a record! Real purty, ain't she? As ought to be apparent from Asako Masunouchi's staggeringly wonderful artwork, the record is 'Everything I do is Gonna be Sparkly'. It will have 'The Ballad of Phil Jevons' and 'Take Your Time' on it as well, and it will be released in the formats of seven-inch vinyl and compact discature, by Atomic Beat Records, in March, we think. Is that all you need to know for now? I think it is. Ace, eh?

Can you tell I'm excited?

In the manner of a proper recording artiste I shall be doing a sort of tour thing to try and get lots of people to buy this record. In the manner of a right slack-arse loser, I haven't sorted it out yet. But I do have a couple of February gigs right here in beautiful Sheffield, and hopefully one down t'road in Nottingham an'all. Full details may be had on the gigs page, as you might expect.

Oh, and I've uploaded the lyrics for 'I Haven't Got a Myspace Because Myspace Fucking Sucks'. Here they are! I've recorded this song as well and will be putting it up on this website at some point for people to download for free, because I'm nice like that. It will also feature, I am assured, on a forthcoming compilation from Derby label Cowboy Democracy. Which is nice.

Hey, in all this excitement I kinda forgot to mention my recent rock and roll tour of advent, and in the midst of that I managed to write another new song, 'Let it go by', which I really like. Thankyou to everyone who made it along to Manchester, Nottingham or Birmingham last month; I especially enjoyed... well, all of it really (from Nottingham, here's a pic and a little bit of Youtube with some idiot on the sleighbells), though I never expected ever to have so much indiepop fun in Birmingham with my duffel coat on. Hats off to Stu and Dunc of The Autumn Store! Like I say though, I'll keep me duffel coat on.