TEX DIARY The world as TEX La HOMA sees it. by Matt shaw

tex la homa diary 18/04/03

The Tex La Homa web diary can now be found at www.texlahoma.com


Below you can still see earlier diary entries and read about where Tex La Homa played between April 2001to April 2003 and whatever else i felt like writing about at the time. There are also loads of pictures from many of our gigs and other things of interest to me at the time to be found here.

I have been recently listening to Hecker, The magnetic fields, Boards Of Canada, Glen Campbell, Laura Cantrell, Her Space Holiday, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, True Swamp Neglect, Mogwai, Arab Strap, Bill Hicks, Stephen Malkmus, Rough Trade Electronica 01, Hood, Ladytron, The Fall, Dof and Sophia.

TEX DIARY The world as TEX La HOMA sees it. by Matt shaw

tex la homa diary 10/02/03

So here we are in 2003. This is my first diary entry of the year. Since
last time there have been three Texlahoma gigs. The first of these was
at Mr. Smiths in Bournemouth on thursday 9th Jan. We played Coma
Boyfriend, Something good, Here with you, Good luck, Feel tied down,
When you close your eyes, Never gonna go away. For this gig i was joined
by Dave on Bass, Scott on drums and Griff on Moog. Next we played at the
Talbot hotel in Stoke-on-trent on Tuesday 4th Feb. The night was
organised by John o, the man responsible for the Music Rooms record
shop, the music rooms live events, cds, reviews in Exclusive fanzine and
his own music rooms scrapbook. Check out what he does and the bands he
puts on at http://hometown.aol.com/themusicroomst9/index.html .

First up was Oscillation culture. One man, a few boxes and some amazing noises.
His set began with ambient sounds and the occasional beat here and
there. As his set progressed the music became much darker, towards the
end there was just a long sustained bass frequency that was heavily
effected in places to create a hypnotic, disorientating feeling for the
audience. Very powerful stuff. We played next, tonight i was joined by
Gary on Bass and vocals and Griff on Korg Kaos pad and Nord Lead. We
played When you close your eyes, Good luck, If you ask, Genius envy (a
teenage fanclub cover), Highfalutin, Cool runnings, Good luck, Feel tied
down and Here with you. Sculptress played last. Sculptress are two men
who use acoustic guitar, melodica, bass, loads of toys and found sound
to create strangly moving and quite beautiful soundscapes. It's also
really great to watch them as they wind up toys, let them go and then
follow them around the stage with a mic to see what sounds they make.
Highly recommended! On wednesday 5th Feb we played at Rafetrs at the
Limelight club in Crewe. Same line up and set except we also played
Sleep for the first time in ages. Before the gig i played the whole of
the masstransfer 5 cd, Lou Rogai and some stuff on Foehn records. The
masstransfer compilation is amazing, check out masstransfer at
http://www.masstransfer.net/

I've been recording some new tracks in the last week or so. Some are
instrumental, some with vocals. I'm happy with the way things are
sounding, just wish i had a little more time to record. As well as these
Tex La Homa recordings i spent a weekend recording some more songs by My
hi-fi sister. They're sounding really good, i can't wait to see them
play live.

I've been listening to Mum - Finally we are no one, American Analog
Set - Updates and Trough the 90's, Tiger Style Records - Artist Sampler
/ 2002 - 2003, Her Space Holiday - Audio Astronomy, Masstransfer -
Installation: 05, to rococo rot - Kolner Brett, Bonnie "Prince" Billy -
Master & Everyone, The Silver MT. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La
Band - Born into trouble as the sparks fly upward, Yellow 6 - live @ the
Talbot, Out of our heads on skelp - VA, Young marble giants - Colossal
Youth, Insound tour support vol. 1 - VA and loads of music by Lunt.

TEX DIARY The world as TEX La HOMA sees it. by Matt shaw

tex la homa diary 21/11/02

we just played our last two gigs of 2002. the first of these was at mr smiths in bournemouth on friday 15th on nov. we were the only band that played. the line up had changed loads of times and no one turned up but us. it was good for us cos we got to play a little longer than usual and play some songs we havn't played for ages, some for the last time too. we also played the best version of never gonna go away we have ever done. the second of these gigs was at the joiners arms in southampton. there were loads of bands on the bill as it was an all day thing for 3.25 fanzine organized by anna and her mates. it was agreat day with great bands and made special for us by having our mate gish along for the ride. the night ended about 5 the next morning once rich had decided to race griff home (by running in the rain) and dave had tried to attack griff, this happens a lot! gish explained the reasons for miss black america splitting up and we watched loads of old music tapes of 90s indie stuff and some crowforce.

i got another tex la homa remix sent to me this week, this time by glockenspiel. it's of the track ordinary day which was originally on the you the listener ep. it is very good. it will be released on a forthcoming remix cd, more details to follow. i just recorded a cover version of the song genius envy by teenage fanclub. it's going to come out on painted sky discs on dec. 23rd. you can check their website at http://www.ulf.co.jp/paintedsky/ . jad fair has done the artwork and the other bands on the compilation are Francis Macdonald [ Teenage Fanclub etc. ], Douglas T. Stewart [ BMX Bandits ], The Pearlfishers, White Town, Jon Auer [ the Posies ], The Comas, The Mayflies USA, Michael Shelley, Mike Randle [ Baby Lamonade ], Deluxe, Gallygows, Ross, Sweet Apple Pie, Solarscape, Beezewax, The Deezleteens, Kinevel and Groundswell.

i've been listening to boom bip, foehn 6, the liars, the god machine, pedro the lion, dj shadow, them, clouddead, true swamp neglect, miss black america, shellac and laudanum, been reading an interview with billy childish in an old copy of butterfly.

TEX DIARY The world as TEX La HOMA sees it. by Matt shaw

Tex La Homa diary 26 / 10 / 02

A Year ago today Tex La Homa played a gig with Seemonster at Mr. Smiths in Bournemouth, i know this because i just unpacked and stuck up a load of old gig posters on my studio wall. Tonight i'm not doing a gig, instead i'm sitting here slightly hung over trying to remember what i've been up to since i last wrote a diary entry.

On the 20th of September Tex La Homa played with Miss Black America, Vext and Lamb Quartet in Bournemouth. Lamb Quartet are a metal band with some interesting bits thrown in for good measure, Vext are fucking loud punk rock noise and very nice people. Miss Black America are amazing, they played their songs to a packed sweaty room who all decided to start moshing the second they played their first note. We played first playing a short set of just five songs, people came down early to see us and we had a great night.

On saturday the 5th October we played again with Miss Black America, this time at The boat race in Cambridge. Donderevo were also on the bill. They were really good from what i saw of them, reminded me a bit of Grandaddy and stuff like the flaming lips. The guitarist also has a mini keyboard stuck onto one of his guitars which looked strange but sounded brilliant, you can look at their website if you like, it's at http://www.donderevo.com/ . We had a good gig in Cambridge, the line up was myself with Dave Purse, Griff, Rich Jenkins and Richard Chasemore. We played Coma boyfriend, Something good, Here with you, Good luck, Robot arms devoid of feeling, When you close your eyes and Never gonna go away. Miss black america played to the sold out Cambrige audience and were as good as they usually are, a joy to witness.

We played in Bournemouth again on thursday 10th of October. The gig was with Anti-Hero, Pure and the Dawn parade. It was a fantasic packed night, 4 great bands for 3quid. Goood to catch up with Dawn Parade and Anti-Hero again too, check out their singles or just listen to John Peel on radio 1, he plays them all the time.

On Sunday the 13th of October we played at the Windmill in Brixton. Along with Notting hills Arts Institute this is my favourite London venue, mainly because it feels nothing like a London venue. You should go along their sometime if you can, i can recommend the Twisted am lounge night and the Drowned in sound night, both of which we've played at. You can check out who's going to be playing their soon at http://www.windmillbrixton.co.uk

Yellow 6 has remixed The verdict by Tex La Homa, it was originally available on the Never gonna go away single and Yellow 6 has done two fantastic mixes. Look out for news soon of these mixes and loads more as i'm gonna put some up on the site as mp3s and others on a remix album, details will be on this website when i know release dates and all that.

On November the 4th Foehn records are releasing a double album that will contain the Tex La Homa track Feel tied down, many of you have probably already got the track as it's on the Dazzle me with transience album and also on the Melodic records compilation A room full of tuneful. But if you haven't got those cds and want to check out Tex La Homa or just buy a good compilation then goto http://www.foehnrecords.com and check out the compilation details. The tracklisting is:


CD.1
01. SAUCER 'untitled 1' 02. CHUZZLEWIT 'Side by side' 03. CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE 'Beeline' 04. TEX LA HOMA 'Feel tied down' 05. HOOD 'The weigth' 06. URSULA 'Infidelidades M²ltiples' 07. ANGELIKA K÷HLERMANN 'Where you are ' 08. TAN LOW 'Girl3' 09. BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE 'Love & Mathematics' 10. GREG WEEKS 'Remove the need' 11. FIGURINE 'Miss_Miss' 12. TRENDLENBERG 'Oh Glory' 13. THE FAMOUS BOYFRIEND 'A stick to beat me with' 14. APEIRON 'CrÈpitattion'
15. SONGSTORE 'Juke Song' 16. THE BOOKS 'Getting the done job'

CD-2
01. GLIDER 'Floating Feeling RemixÈ Par Couch' 02. E_VAX 'How we do' 03. SPARROW ORANGE 'I remenber it all' 04. CEX 'Your Handwriting When You Were a Child In The Winter' 05. STRAND 'Las dudas emocionales no son un problema, el racismo sÌ' 06. F.S.BLUMM 'Fehlsprung' 07. CHESSIE 'Daylight' 08. YOUDEE 'Nasty Engine' 09. TO ROCOCO ROT 'Kˆlner brett 7' 10_BALAGO 'amherst' 11. FLIM 'My czesko guitar' 12. KINN 'Seetang' 13. K.C. ACCIDENTAL 'Residential love song' 14. MINOTAUR SHOCK 'Local Violin Shop' 15. KLANGWART 'Im Garten' (to rococo rot remix) 16. POLAROœDE 'Lil-Pt'.


I just moved house which is why i've not written a diary in so long, the new house is cool though if a little overcrowded with boxes full of stuff i need to unpack.

I've recently been listening to Silver Jews, Luno (a review said they were obviously an influence on me, i've never heard them so i bought their latest album. I don't think i sound like them but it's a great album) Brave captain, Smog, Miss Black America, Missing Person, The sick anchors, Sophia and new Tex La Homa remixes by Yellow 6, Hubcap, Miss Black America, King Razor, and New future Lo-Fi music team.

TEX DIARY The world as TEX La HOMA sees it. by Matt shaw

Tex La Homa diary 09/09/02

Last friday we played Mr. Smiths in Bournemouth with Project Mercury. They are a great band from Reading, hopefully we will be playing somewhere again with them soon. We played this gig with Rich Jenkins on drums, he sounds as good as ever and it was really good to have him back for however long it will be. Line ups change so often with different members comitments outside of Tex La Homa, i guess i'm just lucky that there always seems to be really good people available to play these songs. We played a similar set as the last couple of gigs but with a different line up things always take on a new life, so it all felt brand new. The audience were really into things all night which always makes things special. The next day we played at Boscombe community fayre. It was a beautiful afternoon and we all enjoyed playing there. The sound started off completely wrong with the loudest snare drum i have ever heard on stage but it soon settled down and if anything it was a better gig than the night before.

As well as these gigs i also played as part of Sea Aunts at On the rocks in London, singing on one song and playing drums on others, it went well even though i felt like shit with a stupid cold in full effect.
Looking forward to hearing the new recordings by True swamp neglect, hubcaps had them all in the studio to work his magic.

Speaking of Hubcap, he's also remixed a track by Tex La Homa which sounds great. King Razor, Miss Black America and New Future Lo-Fi Music Team have also completed mixes with some more expected back any day now. All of the mixes are amazing and quite often sound completely different than you might imagine, some will be on this site over the coming weeks as mp3s others will end up on future records. You'll hear all about it here sometime soon.

Listening to Matmos, Pedro the lion, Mike Ladd. Mercury Rev, Golden Boy, Miss Black America, Badly Drawn Boy, American Analogue Set, Bill Hicks, Belle and Sebastion, Beth Orton, Yo La Tengo and Maher shalal hash baz. Just finished reading Hollywood by Bukowski.

TEX DIARY The world as TEX La HOMA sees it. by Matt shaw

Tex La Homa diary 12/08/2002

Last week we filmed a video for the song "Here with you". It was shot over two days by Kin Ho and Philip Eason. The first day was filmed on location on an old concrete ship in Canvey Island. The ship is full of small rooms with holes broken in the walls and ceiling. The lighting in their is incredibly dramatic and the texture of the walls along with the graffiti and signs of past destruction by local youths made for an interesting environment.

The 2nd day involved me being drowned in freezing cold water for hours and hours, it will all make sense when you see it. You can check out some of Kin's other work at www.kinho.com

Last night we played at Mr. Smiths in Bournemouth with Miss Black America and the Molby K's. It was really, really hot in the venue even before the Molby K's played their first note and got hotter as the night went on. We played a half hour set with most of the songs coming from the "dazzle me with transience" album. The sound was really good, we had a great time and we sweated a lot. Miss Black America started their set with the song "Miss Black America" and followed this up with some live favourites and their past two singles. The second half of their set was mostly made up of new songs, some of which i had heard when they did their session for Steve Lamacq on Radio 1. The mosh pit embraced the new songs as if they were old friends rarely coming up for air from the pool of sweat they had created at the front of the stage. Go see them in a small venue while you still can.

Listening to Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground by Bright Eyes.

TEX DIARY The world as TEX La HOMA sees it. by Matt shaw

Tex La Homa diary 12/08/2002

Since last time i wrote tex la homa played at the national reserve social club (or cellar bar 2) on the 20th July. The night was called swoon and featured ourselves and true swamp neglect live and dj sets from factotum robot dog and king razor. true swamp neglect played a great set and suited the surroundings very well, semi hidden behind large plants and blinding lights. their songs get better each time i see them play even though they seem to get drunker, whatever it is that spurs them on i hope they continue to do it. we had a good gig with tex la homa, it ended up really loud on stage with many snapped strings and blooded guitars. Factotum, robot dog and king razor played back to back until very late, i'm not exactly sure who played what but it was all good with a full room of people dancing right until the end of the night.

Our next gig was last wednesday the 7th Aug. at the windmill in Brixton. We were on first and played "coma boyfriend", "something good", "here with you", "good luck", "robot arms devoid of feeling", "feel tied down" and "never gonna go away" The set worked well, the sound was great but really loud and became so loud at the end of "never gonna go away" that the limiter on the sound desk cut out the monitors and left us half deaf.
Dogbonfire were up after us. a punk band native to brixton, they went down well on home turf and had all the moves. Meanwhile back in communist russia ended the night. they were kind of like mogwai or arab strap but with more keyboards and all programmed drums. their intrumental songs were beautiful and incredibly dramatic, the others featured a girl speaking lyrics over the top of the three other guys and broke the set up nicely leaving me wanting to hear more and looking forward to their new record.

The day after the brixton gig i spent all day shooting a video, i shoot the second day tomorrow and i'll tell you all about it in next weeks diary.

Been listening to minotaur shock, massive attack, nick cave, miss black america, the koreans and tex la homa remixes by miss black america, hubcap and king razor. been reading "hollywood" by charles bukowski.

TEX DIARY The world as TEX La HOMA sees it. by Matt shaw

Tex La Homa diary 15/07/2002

We played at Southampton - Talking heads on the 3rd of July with Panj Project and The Dawn Parade. We had Dave back in on bass for this gig and possibly the best sound we have ever had. It was one of those gigs where everything felt right which is just about as good as it gets. Panj project were really very good and i hope to see them again soon. Dawn Parade know how to rock and rock is what they do. The day afterwards we played at Bartonka in Bournemouth. There was a really good crowd for this one and dawn parade were up first and won over many a new fan, with greg providing the enthusiastic throng of young girls that follow them around with many a photo opportunity. Texlahoma played next and had another great gig, everyone was really on form with Dave playing the most beautiful basslines on clear and a quiet/noisy/quiet/very noisy Never gonna go away. On the 10th we went back to Brighton to play at the freebut again, with Gary back on Bass. We played this gig with dawn parade, it was good and hot but quiet.

As well as the gigs with tex la homa i was dragged in at the last minute to play drums for the absolute darlings in christchurch fo their gig on the 7th of July. It's always good to play drums now and again and even more fun when you don't even know it's going to happen until you turn up at the gig and have only seconds to think about it. Rich Jenkins has been asked to drum for them for their next few gigs and sounded amazing at the first of these gigs at yesterdays grooves on the green festival in Poole. A lovely hot sunny day with good friends and a few beers.

I had Paul Hanford in the studio for the last few days recording the next few Sea Aunts songs. "Usurp" sounds amazing, one of the best things i've ever heard Paul do with a great vocal from Russell Kemp on it. It looks like this is going to be a really exciting project to work on.

This week i've been listening to Matmos, Sparklehorse, Belle and Sebastion, Jim O'Rourke, The reindeer section, Minotaur shock, Unkle, and Pixies.

TEX DIARY The world as TEX La HOMA sees it. by Matt shaw

Tex La Homa diary 27/06/2002

On Tuesday 11th June Griff, Richard, Scott, Mooro and i drove to stratford on avon for our gig at the caske and bottle. Dave couldn't play bass for the next few gigs so Mooro kindly stepped in. The Cask and Bottle at half past five was pretty much the same as the last time we played there; full of kids playing pool and drinking in the afternoon...so we hung around until they were tired of playing pool so that we could move the Pool table accross and help Miss Black America set up the PA that Anti-Hero kindly let us use. Mike from Miss Black America has bought a lighting rig and so with a little bit of moving stuff about we had somewhere to play that looked cool and sounded good too.

We played a pretty good gig with Mooro fitting in well. It was good to see Miss Black America in action with seymour in a confrontational mood. By the end of the gig seymours ripped trousers were round his ankles
and my microphone just escaped with it's life, i fear the mic stand was not so lucky. Neil almost destroyed two bass drum pedals and at one point i had to hold the bass drum for him as he had kicked it so hard it was in danger of leaving the venue . After the gig we drove to Marcus' house for drinks and sleep. 7 o'clock the next morning we were all up again to watch England play, nil-nil seemed to make sense through our hungover tired eyes, cups of tea never tasted so good! And so off to Birmingham. We got to the venue (Jug
of Ale) too early so there was a fair bit of hanging around before soundcheck. We had another good gig, probably slightly better than the previous night, at least it sounded better to me. My friend Kieth turned up
taking time out from playing drums in jazz bands. He saw us play for the first time and it was good to see him for the first time since he played drums for broadcast over a year before at all tomorrows parties. Distrophia
were on after us and then Baxxter who were noisy as fuck but interesting.

Miss Black America finished off the night with seymour in an even angrier mood than the night before. Gish, Mike and Neil all played like their live's depended on it and who's to say they don't. We were supposed to play Liverpool on the thursday at the Krazyhouse, last time we played there it was great but this time it was cancelled to to the amazing vanishing promoter. so instead we had to wait until the following Sunday when we played at a Greenpeace benefit gig in Bournemouth. We got down thre early to watch a slightly under par True swamp negelect (still good to watch). We played at five and to be honest we've played better but we seemed to go down well with the audience and "feel tied down" felt good to play, money was raised for greenpeace and Mooro did us proud.

The last of the gigs we did with Miss Black America was at the Freebut in Brighton with Anti-Hero playing too. The venue was hot, too hot. The soundman said one of the band had passed out through heat exhaustion. Geat, just what we need. We played first, this time with Gary on bass, our best gig for a while, hot sweaty and bloody good. Anti-hero sounded huge and i'm sure went on to win over people all over the country with their support tour with wilt. Miss Black America were pretty good but had to contend with microphones fucking up all over the place and by this time the heat was intense. Their set seemed shorter than usual but the audience went mad and loved every second of them. They don't have bad gigs just different levels
of being the most intense amazing band i've seen live in ages.

This week i've been listening to The magnetic fields, son of evil reindeer, Mogwai, Miss Black America, Idelwild, Sugar, The Album Leaf, Tigerbeat6 Compilation, Kitty Yo compilation and Anti-Hero.

TEX DIARY The world as TEX La HOMA sees it. by Matt shaw

Tex La Homa diary 04/06/2002

It's been a few weeks since all tomorrows parties, here's whats been going on in the world of tex la homa. We played at the cellar bar recently with a band from Liverpool called the Moonies. They are young energetic and full of pop tunes. This gig was an acoustic gig so their guitars were less ferocious than they might be on record but this gave the songs a chance to breath and it was really good to hear. Their cover of weezers "hash pipe" was particulaly good as was their version of their debut single "Blue". tex la homa played our first gig with scott playing drums (rich is currently taking a break for the next few gigs) and also without the other rich on guitar (probably busy doing something to do with star wars or something). We played "Something good", "Here with you", "Clear", "If you ask" and "Robot arms devoid of feeling". Felt good too.

Next we played at a new venue called "The National reserve". Support tonight came from the beautiful Betika. Fantastic set from the boy/girl things and a first electric gig from us with scott on drums. We played =
"Coma boyfriend", "Something good", "Here with you", "Good luck", "Clear", "Feel tied down" "When you close your eyes" and "Never Gonna go away" Good venue too. Loved the projections and lights, didn't like my =
sore throat. Our next gig was in Bristol at the Fleece and firkin with Miss Black America and Anti-Hero. This time an electric gig with Rich back with us on guitar. The venue was great with everything sounding really good. (bootleg cd's available from dave) .We played the same set as our last gig except for "Feel tied down". We all really enjoyed this gig and my cold had almost gone too, goodbuy mr sore throat. Anti-Hero were up next and were fantastic, they sounded so good and the new songs are much stronger than when i last saw them last year. Looking forward to their single and doing more gigs with them. Miss Black America just get better and better and were amazing to begin with anyway. nuff said.

After Bristol we played at Mr. Smiths in Bournemouth, Anti-Hero up first, then us then Miss Black America, same set, just as good a gig as Bristol but with a sold out room. Nice. I had a great time, i hope all of you that were there did too. On the studio front i recorded a song called "All i want is out" by and for Miss Black America last week, i've not had a chance to mix it yet but it's sounding good. Look out for more news of this song soon. The last few days i've spent in Newquay with Kate at run to the sun geting sunburnt and drinking and lazing about and dancing to drum n bass.

Been listenig to soundsystems pounding out allsorts throughout the nightto a background noise of VW car engines, Miss Black America, Anti-Hero, Felt, Belle and Sebastion, The American Analog Set, The jesus and mary chain and Sparklehorse.

TEX DIARY The world as TEX La HOMA sees it. by Matt shaw

Tex La Homa diary 27/01/2002

What a great festival All Tomorrows Parties was again this year. Sharing a chalet with me this year were Mooro (Seemonster), chris (Factotum) and Darren (Armo!).

The drive there was hot, mooro was hungover from drinking til the early hours the night before but happy to be travelling towards some of his favourite bands. Once there we unpacked with haste and went down to the main entrance to see Shellac, couldn't get in so had a pint waiting for the main room to open so as they'd let more people in. Dianogah were the first band i saw and what a band, two bass guitars, drums and keyboards. I'd heard of this band a few years ago and had always been interested in what they do. They didn't disappoint. If you like tight as fuck rhythm sections making beautiful music then go buy "Millions of Brazilians" on southern records, or e'mail John Peel on radio 1, he likes them and plays them lots. Next up i went to see Blonde Redhead, great to begin with, vey loud lot's of distortion, weird noise, shouting, throwing shapes, tired of it after a little while though. The Breeders were cool though, straight down the front with chris and (mad) Rich (horse) until the end of cannonball, then back downstairs for Low. Low the best, most moving thing i saw all weekend. (Rachels came close but more of that later). They played all my favourite songs from "Secret name" and "things we lost in the fire" and loads more too. They sounded incredible. The Breeders roamed the bar that night in the queen vic and we danced to drum n bass and "Get yr freak on" bootlegs. Class.

Having missed Shellac on friday we got in line early on saturday to see their show and were not disappointed. They rock very hard indeed, like no other band on the planet. Steve Albini has produced some of my all time favourite records, Steve Albini played in Big Black and Rapeman who soundtracked so many lost hours of my youth making up mix tapes with my friend Dave Major of Big Black, Slnit, The Jesus Lizard, Fugazi etc. Steve Albini who put together the most interesting, inspiring line up of bands i have ever seen. Also on Saturday i saw a little of Smog, not on his best form i suspect. Rachel's however were incredible. I had never heard anything by them before but i knew they were going to be interesting from their soundcheck, Grand Piano, Violin, Chello, Bass , Guitar, Vibes, Drums....the list goes on. Bob from shellac did the sound for them and did them justice. During their set i got talking to Tom Pisano who was over at the festival with them, he told me about the band and we talked about how good the festival is. We then all drank in the queen vic til late observing Marc E Smith in the corner, very strange.

On Sunday we watched Shellac , amazing once again. PW long sang tales of dangerous situations a little like he used to in Mule but without a band. Quality. Mission of Burma had some great sounds/songs and The Upper Crust had wigs and powdered faces as well as a drummer named Jackie Kickassis. The Fall were loads better than last time i saw them, The Fall are The Fall though so you either like them or you don't. I like them, Mark E Smith was very smart too.

Other highlights included meeting loads of new people, seeing new amazing bands (and getting hold of their cd's). (Mad) Richards scream, Mooro's (anger) photo, Drinking all night with good friends.
Listening recently to Low, rachels, Shellac, Dianogah, The 6ths, Paul Hanford, A room full of tuneful Melodic compilation, Betika. Reading "Life After God" by Douglas Coupland and Careless talk costs lives.



< superglider massive at ATP

< dave / mooro

TEX DIARY The world as TEX La HOMA sees it. by Matt shaw

Tex La Homa diary 9/3/2002

Ok it's been a few weeks since i wrote this diary so i'll start with the gigs we played. The first was an Acoustic gig at Soma @ Mr Smiths in Bournemouth. I did the gig with Dave and Richard both playing guitar. We played "Coma Boyfriend", "Good Luck", "Highfalutin", "Don't Fall" and "Robot arms devoid of feeling". It sounded really good on the night and i'm still waiting to hear a minidisc recording of it that was done through the mixing desk.

The next day we played as a full band at Barfly at the monarch in London. We played with Western Suburbs and Xploding Plastix and had a great night, "Never gonna go away" ended when Dave blew his bass amp up and then started on a microphone with a pint glass in an attempt to kill the PA. The feedback was quite beautiful. The following saturday we played an afternoon gig at RoTa at Notting hill arts club. This gig was with El Rey and Coldharbourstores. The room was just right for what we do, small, intimate, slightly claustrophobic. Our last gig recently was at a party in Tiptoe on Kates farm. We played in the barn on an old trailer and straw bales, it was a fantastic night with great sound great lights and a great atmosphere. Drum n bass dj's topped off the night and a good time was had by all.

Miss Black America played in Poole recently, i went to see them at their gig at the central with Circa. Miss Black America were amazing, the amount of energy they have is incredible and is always given straight back to them by the audiences that go to see them. The following day i travelled with them to their gig in winchester. Dawn Parade joined them for this gig (they had missed the previous gig due to a crash they had on the motorway that afternoon). The venue in winchester was really small but they sounded great and the turnout was good. On the way back to mine it was decided i should record some new songs they had written............so, we ended up staying up all night recording "Helium" and "All i want is out". Both songs are fucking fantastic, hopefully you'll all get to hear them soon.

If you havn't seen Miss Black America then i reckon you should try to get along to see them as soon as possible, they are constantly travelling up and down the UK so there really is no excuse. Tex La Homa will be playing with them in May and June, check out the dates on the Superglider news page for more info.

Recently i have been listening to Boards of canada, Lambchop, Jim o'rourke, The electric soft parade, Massive Attack, Minotaur Shock, Paul Hanford and Miss Black America.Been reading The Kenneth Williams diaries.


< RoTa / Notting Hill

TEX DIARY The world as TEX La HOMA sees it. by Matt shaw

Tex La Homa diary 29/1/2002

Hope you all had a great time over the holidays and that 2002 has treated you well so far. Christmas and New Years eve were pretty cool for me, back in Sandbach trying to figure out how my brother drinks so much in such a short time.

Back in Bournemouth Tex La Homa got back together for our first gig this year on the 16th Jan. at Bournemouth Uni. It was a good gig with a particularly vicious version of "Never gonna go away". Our next gig was with Miss Black America at the Caske and Bottle in Stratford Upon Avon. The venue is a smallish pub but the sound and atmosphere in there was really good. We had one of our best gigs yet and also got to watch Miss Black America play a storming set ending with violence and a very, very wet audience, (cheers to Antihero for the use of the PA).

After that we drove on to Liverpool playing once again with Miss Black America and also a Liverpool band called Open Season. This venue was worlds apart from the night before, a proper stage, lights and all that kind of stuff. We played "Coma Boyfriend", "Something good", "Here with you", "Good luck", "Clear" and "Never gonna go away" and left happy in our silver hire van. The next day we had to pick up Seymour (MBA) from Liverpool, he'd stayed there the night before dancing and singing the night away with scant regard for his own well being. I guess after Mike's acts of terrorism against Seymour nothing much could freak him out. So.... we set off for Bournemouth (via Oxford for Seymour) a journey that took in several hours of drinking, listening to the (old)Grange Hill theme tune, Betika, At the drive in, Orange Juice, Billy Bragg, Camera Obscura and others. Rich Jenkins saw off Seymour with a farewell kiss and Dave drove us all home. Tomorrow night i'll be playing drums as a one off for The Apes at their gig at Water Rats in Kings Cross, should be a good night. The next night should be good too with Seamonster playing at Bartonka with an all new line up, can't wait!

Tex La Homa play next at soma in Bournemouth on Feb.6th playing an acoustic set, then on the 7th at the Barfly at the Monarch in London and will be appearing at Rough Trade's RoTa gig at Notting Hill Arts club on the 16th. Lately i've been listening to Fridge, Michael Hurley, Miss Black America, The Stone Roses, Jim O'rourke, Cat Power, The Apes and some new songs by my mate Paul.

TEX DIARY The world as TEX La HOMA sees it. by Matt shaw

Tex La Homa diary 18/12/2001

Help, So it's that time of year again........Christmas. I must admit that it's only just really hit me how fast this year seems to have gone, it doesn't seem five minutes since last christmas when Superglider was still nothing more than a dream. Still the years been good with some great releases from Superglider by Factotum, Robot Dog, Betika and Seamonster along with the first superglider compilation. The launch of this website in April was also a highpoint for us in getting the music we make out to a wider audience. As far as Tex La Homa goes we released our first ep for Superglider in April and we've another on the way for Janruary. We played loads of gigs with some great bands, Betika, Miss Black America, Seamonster, Monkey Head Transplant to name just a few. Janruary will also see us playing out around the country which i'm really looking forward to.

Gigs that stand out by other bands this year include the fantastic All Tomorrows Parties festival which we all went to and is well documented somewhere at the beggining of this diarys archive. Bright Eyes were also great this year especially at Reading where i met Matt Focht (their drummer on that tour) for the first time and got very pissed writing down loads of band names on bits of paper he said i should check out; looking forward to that Head Of Femur cd Matt! Paul and Helen were great festival companions for the festival and it was good to meet up with some people i've not seen for ages and make new friends.

Her Space Holiday were also fantasic when they came over a few weeks ago as were wauvenfold. Looking forward to more from them in the new year. Belle and Sebastion were excellent at their gig in Bournemouth and i also have fond memories of Cat Power, Mogwai, Arab Strap, PJ Harvey, Camera Obscura, Gorkys, The Strokes, ...trail of dead, and many more.

This week i found myself on Antibiotics bored at home so i wrote and recorded a couple of new songs. Ones called "Petroleum" and the other "when i am lost" they both could well end up in our live set very soon. It also gave me the chance to continue reading "all families are psychotic" listen to Camera Obscura, Her Space Holiday, Bjork, Kings of convenience, Plaid, Clinic and John Peels show for Radio 1.

Thats it for the diary for this year, i'll see you early 2002, Happy holidays and Ney Year to you all!

Matt. 18/12/2001

TEX DIARY The world as TEX La HOMA sees it. by Matt shaw

Tex La Homa diary 10/12/2001

The gig we played last sunday at Bartonka went really well, it was great to play at the all day event organised by the band Maine street. The whole place was completely full all day and all the bands were on form. earlier on in the day i played drums for the last (for now) gig by The Apes. It was as chaotic as Apes gigs always are and a fitting end to that incarnation of the band. My friend Gary kindly did the sound for Tex La Homa and did a really good job, it's always so much more fun when you can hear whats going on.

On wednesday i went with Griff to London to see Her Space Holiday and wauvenfold at their gig at the 93 feet east club. Wauvenfold sounded fantastic, the sound was so good, so clear. Her Space Holiday were also fantastic playing songs mainly from their latest cd "Manic Expressive". The next day i went to Brighton with Richard to see both bands again. Brighton was really cool, we spent most of the day looking in record shops and drinking and eating in various pubs and checking out the old pier. The venue for tonights gig was the Lift. I think it was the last ever show in that venue which is a real shame because it was a great room and the bands all sounded amazing. Wauvenfold sounded as good as they had the night before and Her Space Holiday sounded even better, with the vocals much louder than the previous night. Camera Obscura were also on the bill and played a set of beautiful songs.

Tex La Homa were supposed to be playing in Bournmouth at the Uni on wednesday but it's not going to happen now as the Uni have changed the date to the 16th of Jan. At the moment this looks like our next live date but we should be getting out and about a little more in the new year so hopefully we will be playing in a town somewhere near to you in Jan/Feb.

I saw the finished video to "I've been in an accident" by Betika on saturday. It looks really good, theres some great images in there and Paul looks really funny riding around on a pushbike in it. I think it's going to be up on this site or the Betika site very soon so remember to check it out once the link appears.

This week i've been listening to Minatour Shock, Camera Obscura, Kings Of Convenience, Plaid, Mogwai, Her Space Holiday, Wauvenfold, Super Furry animals and Clinic. I've been reading "all families are psychotic" by Douglas Coupland.

TEX DIARY The world as TEX La HOMA sees it. by Matt shaw

Tex La Homa diary 20/11/2001

This week as been much quieter as far as gigs go, with only one, last friday. This time we played at Mr Smiths in Bournemouth, again after a last minute phone call. Nobody we knew really knew we were playing and it was good to play in front of a new audience. We played "Coma boyfriend", "Something Good", "Here with you", "Good luck", "Clear", "Feel tied down" and "Never gonna go away". At the end of the set i once again noticed that Dave had left another pile of bits of wood on the stage after an even more intense end to "Never gonna...", can't wait until next time!
As a contrast to all that noise the last song i recorded is quite gentle, it's a song more suited to the acoustic gigs we do so next time we do one i'm sure we will play it. Our next gig though (so far) will be a full band gig at the all day event at Bartonka in Bournemouth on Sun. Dec. 2nd, i think we should be on about 8-8.30ish.

I'm going over to see my friend Paul tomorrow to do some vocals for some new tracks he's been working on which are sounding really good and another friend of mine is remixing two Tex la Homa songs. I'm really looking forward to hearing what he does as this will be the first time anyone has remixed Tex la Homa so far. Always open too offers mind........

This week i've been listening to Mogwai, Her Space Holiday, Jim O'Rourke, Nick Cave, Yo La Tengo, Fugazi, Radiohead and John Peel.

< (more, by the side of a motorway madness) Exhibit a, with Matt on tour

TEX DIARY The world as TEX La HOMA sees it. by Matt shaw

Tex La Homa diary 11/11/2001

The last week or so has been really busy as far as gigs go. I went to see Betika play on Halloween night, they played a brilliant set with a version of The specials Ghost town and two old but never performed live before Betika originals. Anyway while i was there my friend Kim told me that the Exhibit A tour that was due to start the next day was now to be without their drummer as he left the day before. I know the Exhibit A songs pretty well after helping Gary out in the studio, so i volunteered my services as drummer/percussionist for the tour.

12 noon the next day they picked me up and Gary, Dan, Matt their driver Scott and i headed for Norwich for the tour with Miss Black America and Antihero. The ferryboat is a pretty good venue and the audience were good too. We managed to get through the gig fairly well and managed to have fun at the same time. Antihero played a blinding set and Miss Black America were on fire with a (by then) very passionate crowd. The gig ended with Seymour diving into the kids at the front, total chaos! After the gig we all went back to Mikes (Miss Black America) farm for the night. Mike and his family very kindly put us up for the three days and cooked us some great meals for which we were all extreemly grateful.

< miss black america

The next date was at The Steamboat Tavern in Ipswich. a completely different venue than the night before. No stage, no moniters and very, very small. Still the crowd were fantastic and all the bands played and sounded excellent. We met some really cool people (hello Erica) and i managed to learn a little more about the Exhibit A songs having now played them twice. Back at Mikes farm there was much drinking and smoking, listening to music and watching of films Gish managed to pass out first but none of us were far behind.

< exhibit a with matt on drums

The next day was at the boat Race in Cambridge. By far the best of the three venues, a much better on-stage sound and a propper stage. This was my favourite gig as far as drumming goes, having played the songs twice i felt much more confident and really enjoyed the whole gig. antihero and Miss Black America were amazing once again. This was the end of the line for me as far as drumming on the tour and time to head back to Bournemouth.
The next gig was at the Villa in Bournemouth, this time not drumming but singing and playing with Tex La Homa. We had a really good gig, "Good Luck" was a pleasure to play and the sound was really good. Next up were exhibit A. I did their out-front sound and it was good to be able to watch them without worrying about drumming. Scott (monkey head transplant) played drums for them as he has many time before. Miss Black America played the hardest i've seen them yet, and sounded so fierce. One broked high-hat one bass drum skin and many guitar strings later the gig and tour were over. Thanks again to Mike and Miss black America for the hospitality and fantastic gigs. check them out at www.missblackamerica.net .

The night after the Tex La Homa gig i went to see seamonster play. seamonster for this gig was Griff (Moog/Vocals) and Mooro (Guitar/Bass). They played a really good set against pre-programmed drum beats and sounded much closer to the sound of the record than they ever have before. i look forward to seeing them again and watching the whole thing grow and grow.

The final gig for me this week was on Saturday night. I got a phonecall at 5.30pm asking me if Tex La Homa would play at a party in Poole. 4 hours later we were on stage. Once again it was a really good gig, Dave abused his bass during "Never gonna go away" leaving bits of wood all over the stage and the whole thing just felt really good.

This week i've been listening to Miss Black America, Antihero, pulp, The Jesus and Mary chain, The Pixies, Fugazi, Aphex Twin and The Album Leaf.

TEX DIARY The world as TEX La HOMA sees it. by Matt shaw

Hi to everyone who came to see us at Mr Smiths last friday night, hope you all enjoyed the new songs. Our next gig will be at The Villa in Bournemouth on the 7th playing with Exhibit A and Miss Black America which we are all really looking forward too.

I went to see Six By Seven and Ikara colt last sunday at the Fleece in Bristol. My friend Dan was driving with Kim, Scott and myself joining him for the gig. Ikara Colt opened up the gig and they were Punk rock and very good. They reminded me a bit of The Fall, but without being a rip off. I'd like to here them on record to get a better idea of the songs but would definitely recommend you check them out if you get the chance. Six By Seven were very, very good indeed and very, very loud. The sound was exceptional as were the new songs, great stuff.

I'm just about to start recording a new song in a minute, really feel like recording today, very inspired after sessions with Factotum last night. As ever the new Factotum project is as top secret as all the projects in the past have been, how the records ever get finished or released is a miracle really, all i know is there are new people involved who know how to make a lot of noise and keep their identities well hidden.

This week i've been listening to Six by Seven, Mogwai, Aphex Twin, Seamonster, Pizzicato five and Surgeon.

Take it easy, Matt.x 31st Oct.2001

< six by seven

TEX DIARY The world as TEX La HOMA sees it. by Matt shaw

Just got in from playing at Soma with Tex La Homa. Tonight it was Richard, Dave and me playing an acoustic set. We played "Clear", "Feel Tied Down", "Here with you", "So Slow"(a cover of the sophia song) and "robot arms devoid of feeling"finishing with "Something good". Betika will be playing there next wednesday so please try to make it along, it will be very special indeed i'm sure.

Today (earlier on) i recorded a new song called "Launch" which sounds very, very noisy right now, i think it's one we may play live at some point, i can see it working best very loud.

I went to see The Fall for the first time this week. I took a trip to visit Mooro (from seamonster) and he, Sally, Chef and i had a really good night. It all started with Vodka and ended with wine. In between the was pubs, lager, chip shops, more vodka, taxis...... Chef played along to some Tex La Homa songs with myself and Mooro and it all sounded great...........but what about the fall?!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Fall were fantastic, drunk, yes maybe a little(them and us), and after about five songs Mark E Smith started to randomly leave the stage mid song but they were still fucking fantastic!

I'll see some of you later tonight for the Seamonster gig and if not then on friday for the Tex La Homa and Seamonster gig at Mr. Smiths.

< matt at soma

This week i've been listening too Sophia, My Bloody Valentine, Brian Eno, Mogwai, Dub Pistols, Spring heel jack, and lots of live bands playing at various venues, how about you?

Matt. xxx 24/10/2001

FOR OLDER TEX DIARY entries click here >