MESS WITH ME AND YOU'LL BE SORRY

After a bit of downtime with the website as we moved servers, we are back with two bits of big news:

1. We have finished recording and mixing our new record.

2. Pierre has left the band.

The second happened about 2 hours after the first and put a bit of a downer on it. We will hopefully be able to play all gigs still booked - apologies to anyone who turned up last Friday expecting us to be playing.

As far as the record goes, it is sounding amazing in our humble opinions. We will be getting it mastered in the very new future and hopefully the production will be finished so that it can be on sale by the start of July. I can reveal now that it is a mini-album entitled 'If Found, Please Return To...' and will be comprised of six tracks.

We will give you more details and hopefully a track listing and a track by track breakdown in the very near future.

If you are, or you know of any drummers who may be interested in auditioning, email us on band@battleskagalactica.com

I have also started work on the Encyclopaedia Galactica - something I thought about ages ago and remember yesterday. It's a work in progress, and if you have any suggestions for things to be added then please e-mail us.

LIVE YOUR LIFE LIKE IT'S A MOVIE

As you may or may not have gathered, the recording of our mini-album has taken longer than expected. Our plans were slightly more ambitious than we had realised. However on Wednesday we shall be going in to put the final finishing touches to the vocals and then we just need to mix, master and press it and it's all done. The hard work will have been completed on our side, it will just be a case of getting other people to get it finished for us. We're hoping that the final article will be ready sometime in July. We will keep you posted on this.

In the meantime, there is an interview available to read which will appear, in an edited version in Zebra in the near future.

DON'T FORGET YOUR LIFE JACKETS

Tomorrow we embark on a bit of an adventure. We are going to attempt to record in around a couple of weeks a six-track mini-album. The way we are going to attempt to work is very different to how we have done before so it will be both exciting and possibly frustrating. We will be keeping you posted daily if possible in the band diary, so keep checking back to see how it is going. We've provisionally got a release party planned for the 19th of May at the Brewery Tap in Folkestone. We will get track listing, artwork, prices and sound clips etc. up for you to check out as soon as possible.

We have also started provisionally thinking about a video to go along with it... but that's purely in the planning stage at the moment.

WHAT'S THE OPPORTUNITY COST?

Our new trumpet monster t-shirts are now available for sale for £5 each. The design is shown on the right, we will get some better pics of them up when we get a chance. We have entered a competition to play at V2007. If you want to vote for us, please go here: http://www.roadtov.com/profile/12103

JESUS IS COMING, YOU'D BETTER LOOK THE PART

It's all go in Camp Battleska at the moment.

A few new gigs have been added to our gig list, including what we hope will be our EP launch party at the Brewery Tap in Folkestone on the 19th of May. We will keep you posted on whether it will be ready at that time. We're trying to get booked up between 20th May and 24th of June so if you've got anything going between those dates, give us a shout on gigs@battleskagalactica.com.

As far as the EP is going, the artwork is due to get underway this week, with the title having been decided last night. Studio time has been booked up for the first week in April and we will try to keep you updated day by day as we record.

We are going to attempt to get 6 songs down. All the songs have been finished musically with just a bit of lyrical tweaking here and there to get everything completed and rehearsing required to make sure everyone is happy.

New t-shirts have been ordered and they should be delivered ready for the gig with the almighty Jesse James this Saturday, 17th March at the Tunbridge Wells Forum. We will get the design up on the website as soon as we get the delivery.

We have been featured on a Mixit podcast. Go here tolisten to it.

Rumours:

We've also been in talks regarding doing a studio set for a new independent radio station based in Whitstable.

We have been asked to contribute a track to a charity CD for a home in Hastings.

There is possible weekend tour to Germany in the works. I want to go. I've never been there before. Luke is doing a Mr T "I ain't gettin on no plane, foo'!" thing though...

SAVE ASHFORD ROCKS

Below we have copy and pasted an email from Steve who runs the Ashford Rocks nights at Homelands in Ashford. Please sign it to help save these great nights:

Morning all

You may be aware that Ashford Borough Council have recently decided to enforce the law at Homelands and decree that no on under the age of 16 should come to gigs there unless accompanied by an adult.

This has caused uproar amongst local rock fans and several petitions have been started.

Negotiations with the council are ongoing and we are trying to find a way to get around this stupid law, we think we have found a way, but we need to keep the pressure on them.

So would you please all sign the online petition and get ALL your friends to do the same. The closing date is March 7 ^th so you will have to do it pretty quickly.

If we are not allowed to let in the younger population 14 to 16 year olds Ashford Rocks is in danger of closing due to the financial costs of putting it on in the first place.

It’s your call, if you want somewhere to gig in Ashford sign it now please.

www.ashfordrocks.com     click on the petition button and follow the instructions.

Thanks in advance.

Steve

NEW NEWS

We have discovered a website where it is possible to download the entirety of Will Skank For Cash. If you don't already have a copy, check out http://skank.ru/2007/01/26/battleska-galactica-will-skank-for-cash/

Thanks to everyone who came down to the gig at the Brewery Tap on Friday, it was a great night. We are all now looking forward to playing at the Tunbridge Wells Forum with the almighty Jesse James.

We've also got some studio time booked up, we'll let you know how that goes as and when.

WHAT'S A GIRL LIKE YOU DOING HERE AT ALL?

We have had two gigs confirmed in the last week or so. The first is this Friday at the Brewery Tap. Please come along and support this new venue. We will be playing with Los Salvadores who, if you haven't seen them, are absolutely amazing.

The second is at the Tunbridge Wells Forum with the almighty Jesse James on the 17th of March. It's only a small venue, so if you want to come, make sure you get your ticket sorted out ASAP.

We've had a big shot of song writing juice and are looking to get around 6 or so new tracks aired within the next couple of months. You may have already heard In Memory of Ernest Chipper and All Aboard the Mary Celeste. Two more that are close to being completed are Vito and Stand Up/Look Sharp, with Festa Di Carne Part 3 and I Don't Hate You, I Despise You waiting in the wings.

We're also looking into getting some more t-shirts printed up. Watch this space.

Unfortunately our gig last Sunday was rained off... who'd have thunk it. But we've had a big injection of impetus recently. Practice this week was pretty damn good - we did an extra couple of hours and got a few new things on the boil. We've started to get a bunch of shows booked up too. If you want us to come play round your way, get in touch and we'll try to sort something out. We want to play everywhere. Especially Bognor. I've never been there. I want to know what it's like.

A WHOLE NEW WORLD...

Welcome to 2007. Please wipe your feet as you come in.

I have just finished doing our annual review. A bit quieter than last year but hopefully it'll pick up in 2007.

As a Christmas treat, we've uploaded another song from an acoustic session we did a while back. Check out Gangska's Paradise. Probably only available for a short while. Or maybe not. Who knows.

Hope you had a good Christmas and New Year. On Saturday I sang onstage with 3Dbs Down. But it's ok, apparently you couldn't hear me.

Finally a Top 5 Bands You Should Check Out If You're Looking For New Music List:

1. Freedom For King Kong
2. Ska-P
3. El Gran Silencio
4. Desorden Publico
5. Against All Authority

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, MY FRIENDS

Last night we won a Ranty for Best Rock Act at the Rock'n'Rant awards ceremony. Apologies to anyone who went for Lewis' use of a naughty word.

Come to the charity gig at the Lanterns next Saturday. Kirsty said so.

ALL HAIL THOR, GOD OF THUNDER, SON OF ODIN AND JORD!

So we've not updated in a while. This due to the fact that I have been busy with exams and Sopranos and somewhat foolishly entrusted the running of the site to Lewis. Oops.

We have recruited ourselves a new bass player, the gentleman on the right who goes by several names, the shortest of which is Jim.

He used to be in a band named the Red Shift from Hastings who were pretty nifty.

He also enjoys driving along in the rain and taunting people who are walking and getting wet.

ADIOS PAULO

With a lump in our collective throats we announce the news that stompmeister Birch will be playing his final gig with Battleska Galactica on Sunday the 13th of August. The rhythm machine will be going off to pastures new to explore big canyons, discover new species of grasshoppers, find a way to stop volcanoes exploding and eat lots of crazy foods.

The his final gig will be a bit of a stonker. It's at the Command House in Chatham. Some guy asked me where it was, but I can't remember who, so click here to go to multimap to find out. It's not too far from Chatham train station.

The gig is called Antfest. It starts at 2pm, finishing at 9pm. There is free entry, drinks available from the pub and hopefully a barbeque. All proceeds are going to the British Heart Foundation.

The gig itself consists of some of the best bands in Kent and some BSG favourites including One Day Elliott, 3 Dbs Down, Kingskin, Los Salvadores and The Sunshine Bus. Quite simply, it will be THE BEST GIG YOU WILL EVER SEE!

After the gig, we will be taking a month or so off, probably write a bit more material for the new album and get together a shortlist of bass players to audition at the end of September. If anyone is interested bung us an email at band@battleskagalactica.com.

BUY ME

 TOTAL PUNK ROCK on which two of our tracks are featured is now available to buy from the Calcaza Records website for only £6. Please buy a copy. The guy who is making it is producing it at a loss to promote unsigned bands that he likes. That's rock'n'roll.

VIVA LA STABLE

Originally we had three gigs booked for this week. We now have none. Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond our control all three gigs were either cancelled or we had to pull out of them.

Still we got some good news today. Firstly the album, TOTAL PUNK ROCK on which two of our tracks are featured is now available to buy from the Calcaza Records website for only £6. Please buy a copy. The guy who is making it is producing it at a loss to promote unsigned bands that he likes. That's rock'n'roll.

Secondly, we have made it through to the final of the Stable. The gig is on Saturday 15th of July. Please come along and support us if you can because we get a prize if we win. I've forgotten what it is, but I'm hoping it's jelly tots.

New song count is up to 7 rehearsed, 2 partially written, 1 written in principle and 2 with a few lyrics here and there. It's going quite well. We're putting in a lot more thought into the writing process this time and should hopefully come out with some awesome material.

THE BIGGEST BRASS SECTION IN THE WORLD

It’s been a busy week at camp Battleska. We’ve been busy getting ourselves some more gigs. Well, Lewis has after I pestered him enough. We’ve got our new shipment of t-shirts arriving in the next couple of days along with some stickers and I’ve been working on some badges which will hopefully be ordered by the end of the week. On top of this, we’ve managed to find time to play two pretty bitching gigs. The first was at the lanterns which was packed and as sweaty as a female German shot-putter’s armpit due to the fact that the air conditioning wasn’t working. The second was with two amazing ska bands – The Red Shift and The Lovespuds. We even managed to convince them to let us borrow their brass, so we ended up with a 7-piece horn section on Gangsta’s Paradise. This made me smile a lot.

SAVE THE SKATEPARK

This Thursday we are playing at the Lanterns for a charity gig to Save The Folkestone Skatepark. The skaters had to campaign for ages in order to get the skatepark in the first place, now they're being told that it will be shut down unless they can raise enough money. Please come along, it's for a really good cause that we feel really strongly about (mainly because when we were young enough to have enough time to skate, there was nowhere to go, so we never learnt to do anything other than manual).

Our t-shirts went on sale at the Leas gig on Friday (which by the way, was the most fun I've had with my clothes on for a fair while). They also sold out, apart from 1, I believe, which Lewis saved to wear home as he'd forgotten to bring a spare t-shirt. Foo.

Anyway, we've ordered some more as well as some stickers (it's great to finally be able to afford to get us some merch!), which will hopefully be here by Thursday but it's looking doubtful.

I THOUGHT THE MOUNTAINS WERE HILLS

The first edition of the soon to be hugely popular Kirstys Kolouring section of the website is up in the features section. All you have to do is print out the wonderful picture and colour it in using your favourite crayons, present it to mummy to put on the fridge and she's sure to give you chocolate. Foolproof. Please email us to let us know what chocolates your mummy gets you.

In other news, we've got a whole bunch of gigs lined up, including the big one at the Leas Cliff Hall with the almighty JESSE JAMES for which you can buy tickets here. We are hoping to get some t-shirts printed up in time which will be on sale for just five of your English pounds. You will also be able to buy them online for a bit more, depending on how much it costs to send a t-shirt in the post (we'll work it out and get back to you on it).

We've also been busy working on new material. We've got five songs which are finished or close to being finished. They are: In Memory of Ernest Chipper, Festa Di Carne Part 3, All Aboard The Mary Celeste, Vito and Ends & Beginnings. We've been playing Ernest quite regularly but we may be debuting one of the others at the Leas.

ACHOO

I've got a cold. I'm not impressed.

Anyway, the tickets for our gig with Jesse James at the Leas Cliff Hall on the 26th of May are on sale. For the poster click on this link. I have no idea how well they're selling or anything - we've (perhaps foolishly) left Lewis in charge of sorting it all out. Click here if you want to buy your tickets online.

In other news, I've been listening to some Captain Everything! as we're going to be playing them in Hastings in a few months time. They're pretty good and get the Stewbacca seal of approval. We've been working on getting a bunch of new gigs. Check the list down the right hand side to see when we're coming to a town near you.

Sometime last year we did an acoustic set for a radio show called Sofa Sessions on 35fm. I've uploaded the version of Chemical Warfare for you to listen to. I really like what we did with the ending. Anyway, go to the downloads section if you want to have a list to that.

JESSE JAMES TICKETS ON SALE

The tickets for our gig with Jesse James at the Leas Cliff Hall on Friday the 26th of May are now officially on sale. You can even buy them online. Although personally I would go buy them direct from the Leas Cliff Hall if you can as you'll save yourself a little bit of moolah.

In other news I bought myself a shiny new (well second hand) Boss OS-2 distortion pedal.  It's more beautiful than your mum. See, there it is on the right. Doesn't it make you drool? Wait 'til you hear the bad boy. Phil from Arcaine is selling off some of his stuff. He's got a couple of hefty amps, a guitar and another pedal or two. Give us a shout if you're interested and I'll put you in touch.

Anyway, the first of hopefully many a feature is up. Check out the link up the top for the first instalment of Paul's Puzzles.

WILL SKANK FOR CASH ONLINE

That's right, we've finally got our arses into gear and finished uploading Will Skank For Cash in it's entirety. MP3s are available either through this site, our Myspace, Purevolume or Audiostreet sites - even Charcoal's Bad Fur Day is up despite the fact that Luke wants to destroy any evidence of it ever existing. Check the download section to find out exactly how to get it all.

Also up, in the press section is a review of Songs From The Crypt from Debunk zine, which I found my copy of the other day. It's not amazingly positive but it does point out how amazingly awesome the guitars are, which I have to agree with.

Last night we played with Fandangle. They rocked. It bought their CD. It is very good. They had the coolest bus in the world. They were also very nice guys too. Nicer than Bruno's chip shop which was recommended to us by the local kids as the best chip shop in town. The gig was finished by 9.30 as it was a show for little 'uns which meant I was back home tucked up in bed by 11, which is usually when gets are winding down. This after an hour long drive listening to Dexter Fletcher (from Press Gang!) reading some story. I like Dexter Fletcher. He's great. Even in Hotel Babylon which was kinda pants. And I even had time to visit Tescos as well. Craziness. I also developed a new fondness for Tescos. If, for example, you wanted to cook a roast dinner but had neither the required food nor implements and it was 2am, you would be able to do so due to the wonder of Tescos. Modern life is great!

There's a new diary done by Luke which you can find by clicking the diary link above. I think he's probably got too much time on his hands the moment.

There's also a new features section but as yet there's nothing there. But we've got some great ideas. Watch this space!

Fandangle Rocking Out