April 1999 - Sinister - missprint.org

Sinister: scandalous sinister shocker
by Genevieve Wesley 01 Apr '99

01 Apr '99

Dear sweet list, Hey,man..what`s all this hub-bub going on? What this select article?.. was it like a big thing just on sinister or belle and sebastian in general...these select people have been watching us the whole time? those voyeuristic pervs! bad touch! we could`ve been naked or something...okay,select people,if you are there, i have a COMPLAINT. In your lettres page,you said `the person who sends in a lookalike celebrity picture will win a great prize` I have sent in 2 lookalike pictures of celebrities,both have been PUBLISHED and 1 plain lettre that you published and i have gotten NO prize in the mail.What`s with that.You think you can misquote people,not send them their fair prizes and get away with it! (well,you probably will get away with it,but beware,you just might get a curse bestowed upon you...sinister...magic..) it was just the..whole tone..i have expected to see `you can even see where evil girls have illicit thoughts on stuart david!` I shall have to check it out tomorrow on my yearly pilgrimage to the city to buy food. hey oon,thanks for those great documentary ideas actually..i quite liked the pub one,but i was thinking i might do my documentary on `children of war` and focusing on the kosovo crisis...if anyone has any ideas or suggestions about my documentary,opionions or whatever (i dont care what your opionions are,i want to show things from both sides) they would be most greatly and warmly welcomed...i was thinking i could centre my story around -have we learned nothing? -no matter what side thinks they are right,the weak and innocent ones always die -these children growing up in hate,a future of hate? i have really been effected by what i`ve been seeing on the news,my danger is..i dont want to seem like i`m preaching or trying to be sensationalistic. thankyou kindly, genevieve Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "nambling pambling rice pudding & crochet holiday camp +-+ +-+ gangwanking whimsy-thon" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: Morrissey's a poofter, aye
by Dan McKinney 01 Apr '99

01 Apr '99

hello fellow "cult members" Check out http://www.excellentonline.com today. Quite a hilarious little gag they've got goin' over there that I think some of you might get a laugh out of. I got Looper some airplay the other night on my radio show, in a bit of an unexpected fashion. see, I was listening to the album that night, and I realized that "ballad of ray suzuki" would make for a great bed (background). so I used it while I was talking and stuff. not a very glamorous way to get Looper on the radio--I would've liked to have played a whole tune--but my program director threatened bodily harm to DJs who "break format." too bad I play B&S all the time anyway. usually "simple things" because it's short and there's lesser risk of getting caught. oh, the joy of college radio program directors who think they're operating a commercial station. alrighty, time to stop procrastinating. have a nice day. ~Dan What's in the CD Player?: Sloan -- Navy Blues In Rotation: Eric Matthews -- Lateness of the Hour; Teenage Fanclub -- Bandwagonesque; Sense Field -- Building; Sparklehorse -- Good Morning Spider Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "nambling pambling rice pudding & crochet holiday camp +-+ +-+ gangwanking whimsy-thon" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: "I'm not sure if I want Bowlie festival publicised"
by Honey 01 Apr '99

01 Apr '99

I promised to shut my fat gob, but I'm not really am I? Two things, chums: First off I got to read the whole Select article this evening, and Lulu is still giggling and rolling about on the sofa about it. The following appears in big black satanic writing on page 34: "I'm not sure if I want the Bowlie festival publicised. We're a tidy little community!" - Sinister mailing list founder, Honey I was of course misquoted: not only do I not want Bowlie publicised, I'd like it sanitised, plagiarised and circumcised please. Keen observers may wish to note that whoever does the big letters for Select didn't talk to the person who does the little letters, and stuck in "Bowlie festival" for "Sinister list". I know it's a subtle difference but I'm pedantic and feel these nuances of meaning count. Big fat farts. However, you should all pat yourselves on the back because in the same article, Sinister is referred to as "the Mother of all fan resources". This is of course only because of the messages in the archives, which I didn't write all by myself, in spite of appearances today. Apparently, in reference to Sinister: "You flippin' name it, it's there". Another blatant untruth: I've been looking for years in the Archives for instructions on how to unplug the exit valve on an Indesit B33RZ and it's conspicuous by its absence. "And also": this latest communication beamed straight from the heart of Jeepster International. I thank you. Honey x ---------- Forwarded message ---------- a few of the band members are working on writing the official tabs and parts for piano, guitar, lead guitar and lyrics into a proper lyrics book as we speak. once this is complete it will be available to purchase in all good bookstores, and the belle and sebastian site at http://www.belleandsebastian.co.uk/ will exclusively feature them, of course we'll keep you up to date with this as and when it happens, other things we're doing; a belle and sebastian newsgroup ALL of the video's including the weathershow and looper ones as well as the whole b&s video collection (yes, dirty dream too) will soon be available on the net in real video format in their entirity thanks to sonic net :) cheers david ----------------------------------------------------------------------- david kitchen : jeepster recordings ltd http://www.jeepster.co.uk/ mailto:shop@jeepster.co.uk WE ARE MOVING, NEW ADDRESS: PO BOX 14153, LONDON SW11 4XU, UK to subscribe to the news mailing list mail majordomo(a)jeepster.co.uk with the words 'subscribe news' in the body of the message +----------------------------------------------------------------------- +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "nambling pambling rice pudding & crochet holiday camp +-+ +-+ gangwanking whimsy-thon" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: Oh, What luck!
by allen 01 Apr '99

01 Apr '99

I'm so happy, I had to share it with someone, but since no one here at my work likes (or even knows of) B&S, I thought I'd post it here. :) I decided to buy lunch today, so I left the office and went down to a shopping centre nearby to buy lunch from a quaint little Chinese take-out place. I felt like wandering the mall (as we call them here) a bit seeing if maybe we had the latest Select. I should mention I'm in Canada, but luckily, many magazine shops carry imports of Select. I just want it for that article that Stevie Trousers was nice enough to post here for the rest of us to read. Well, the shops didn't have the new one in yet, so I decided to stop by my local HMV and browse the CDs they've got. Went to the "alternative" section and saw they have a fairly good selection. They have both B&S LPs, but Sinister is overpriced at $32CAN, which is quite high, considering most CDs are around $15-$20. I'd been purchasing too many CDs of late, so I decided not to buy anything. I passed by the singles section and decided to browse that. I browsed through several Pulp CD single imports, but didn't feel like buying any at the moment. Then, just for the heck of it, I looked to see if there were any B&S CD singles there. And to my surprise, there WERE! They had Dog on Wheels, Lazy Line Painter Jane, and 3..6.. 9.. Seconds of Light. I was ecstatic, as you can imagine. This is quite a surprise because, again, I'm in CANADA!! I suppose there was a B&S fan working at the HMV and decided to import these. So I quickly snatched Lazy Line.. and 3..6..9.. I had already ordered and received Dog... and Modern Rock Song and planning on ordering these other two, so this was quite a pleasant surprise. Also, the exchange rate is not very favourable for the Canadian dollar and International money orders are quite expensive, so I saved quite a bit this way! That made me very happy, of course. :-) Well, I had better get to work now. thanks for listening if you got this far in the message! Allen -- "Long afloat on shipless oceans I did all my best to smile Till your singing eyes and fingers Drew me loving to your isle." -- Song to the Siren, Tim Buckley. +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "nambling pambling rice pudding & crochet holiday camp +-+ +-+ gangwanking whimsy-thon" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Re: Sinister: "I'm not sure if I want Bowlie festival publicised" (fwd)
by Honey 01 Apr '99

01 Apr '99

Listen, I'll do penance for the month for mailing you all again but this one's forced on me. David Jeepster has just mailed me asking me to tell you all that the message I quoted from him was sent by him to the belleandsebastian list, at Jeepster and not the news list, at Jeepster (and not the Sinister list, at Sinister Central, I should add), because he says lots of people will get confused and mail him asking if the news list is kaputt. It isn't. I'm not. We aren't. OK? Honey x +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "nambling pambling rice pudding & crochet holiday camp +-+ +-+ gangwanking whimsy-thon" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: The horror
by mctag＠bigfoot.com 01 Apr '99

01 Apr '99

Hello, First of all thanks to Stevie Trousers for his copying of the Select jobbie. And thanks to whoever it was who did the Time Out thing (which I thought was really, really good, spot on, written by a fan, and not a cheap stitch-up with a hidden agenda). Honey wrote: >Actually I'm rather proud to continue a strong tradition of looking >vague and going off to make a cup of tea when someone asks for a >story on Sinister. I have more and more respect for the attitude of >our friends from Glasgow as time goes on, and damn right their habits >rub off on others. Me too. I was also approached by Steve Lowe who asked me how I felt about being part of the Cult of Belle and Sebastian. I composed a flippant answer about incantations and sacrifices, then wrote something sensible, then decided just to ignore him. Now I feel entirely justified. Top marks to Trousers again for saying more or less what I would have said myself, and Katrina for pointing out the friendship angle, but a lot of it was cringe-inducing reading for me. David, was that a misquote when you said "we're all very sad"? I hope you're suing. Personally, I'm a very happy human with a very happy social life, who happens to think that email is a good cheap quick way of writing to people I care about. I don't really blame Steve Lowe, either, he did it best - in fact he probably reported a lot of it quite accurately - I just didn't recognise myself at all (although I think he paraphrased one of my posts). Actually, I reckon it wasn't Steve who misquoted Paul, it was some idiot editor, and of course, they've got magazines to sell, and as Peter pointed out the other day, us being normal doesn't make good copy. Oh, and JJ and Rachel, congratulations, you kept that quiet. I'm off to Glasgow tomorrow to see Anne and Chris and Julia and Keef, we're going to Spy if anyone's interested in coming. Shyness and xylophones are strictly forbidden. Tonight sees the launch of Club International in Manchester which I'd be going to if I didn't have a blinder right behind the eyes. Rumour has it that some young scamp is going to be reading extracts from "Young and Foolish", in a "funny voice", while wearing a horse mask. It isn't Warrander John, but he's going and he can tell you all about it next week, so long as he doesn't call me a poof like he just shouted down the phone at me. Three weeks till St Moumoune's Day Love Tag xx +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "nambling pambling rice pudding & crochet holiday camp +-+ +-+ gangwanking whimsy-thon" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: My friend knows Norman Blake's Grandmother
by DavidJ2502＠aol.com 01 Apr '99

01 Apr '99

Hello there, Every day that passes puts another flaming dagger into my heart. A little melodramatic? Maybe, but now I read in the NME that The Flaming Lips have been added to the Bowlie bill. Things couldn't get much better than this. I had only just got over the shock of Teenage Fanclub's shock addition- my doctor still prescribes warm cocoa and Bandwagonesque twice daily to calm my nerves- now this! The shock is too much for a young man's heart to take. Of course, by now you will have figured out that I am not going. I, like the sensible person I am have opted for buying a car instead, though not for eighty-odd quid, mind you, and have been kicking myself in the tender regions ever since (I have a prescription to stop that as well). It is with this in mind that I have created the Worlds Smallest Festival (TM). To coincide with the Bowlie Weekend I am having a small gathering at my house featuring a DJ set from my friend Chris and live music from me as I bash out Pastels classics on an old acoustic guitar; other acts TBC. As you might expect from such an intimate venue (a three bedroomed semi-detached in the Midlands) availability is limited. In fact, it's already sold out. Sorry. Changing the subject a little bit... Did anyone listen to Lamacq Live this week? Among the highlights: a dEUS live session, Suede live and me, two friends and my brother getting destroyed by four Welsh girls on the Thin Quizzy bit. For anyone who's in the slightest bit interested, they pre-record the show something like three hours before it goes on air, so they can edit out all of the boring bits ("What?", "Who?", "I've never even heard of them", "Hang on Steve"). After all that, I was only on the radio for a micro-second (muttering "Garbage" in my best Stuart Staples voice), leaving the young Andrew Hickman, a Neds Atomic Dustbin acolyte from Stourbridge, to do all of the talking. Nice to see a question about B&S though, and they played The Gentle Waves as an interlude, so it's not all that bad is it? Thanks for listening, David J. PS as for those tricky valve problems, Honey, have you ever tried WWW.B33RZexitvalve.com/unplug.html? Well don't, its crap. +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "nambling pambling rice pudding & crochet holiday camp +-+ +-+ gangwanking whimsy-thon" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: that select article in full!
by david kitchen - jeepster 01 Apr '99

01 Apr '99

has now been posted on the belle and sebastian website at http://www.belleandsebastian.co.uk/press/interviews/select-1-apr-99.htm but it's also below -- The portents are good. In the disturbingly macho spit-sawdust-and-Sky TV public house there's a row of books on the window ledge. Alongside the Frederick Forsyth paperbacks sits a mammoth three-volume set titled The World Of Children, a 1950s educative text with chapter titles including 'Gill Is Worried' and 'The Earth As A Big Ball'. Interspersed within are line-drawings illustrating such eternal truths as 'Whispering: A Nasty Habit'. Next to this is another tome called French Cathedrals. Sanctity side-by-side with childhood innocence: we're clearly not in South-East London anymore but are already well on the way to being transported to a strange, slightly adjacent new world. Entering the more salubrious surroundings of New Cross' Paradise Bar, the shift becomes complete. For it's here, in what more usually serves as a local gay bar, that '200 Troubled Teenagers' is being held, the night that bills itself in classically understated fashion as "an evening dedicated to the Scottish ban Belle And Sebastian". A darkened passageway leads you past a woman presiding over programme packs, the cover of which is a cack-handedly doctored picture of Miss Jean Brodie teaching her class the dates of the three Belle And Sebastian LPs. It's £3 to enter, but £2 if you're wearing band T-shirts or badges - which accounts for the preponderence of such gear among the tranquil clusters of fans standing in the shady alcoves and under the prettily swirling lights. Far from being a solely sad-lad scene, there are also plenty of Isobel Campbell clones in evidence, with hair-slides and pinafores in abundance. Thankfully, too, among the male contingent there are occasional touches of Cocker-esque shirt-and-tie-smoothie style to offset the expected shy-boy floppiness. This, it also appears, is a band for all ages. So while some of the cultists look as though they've just arrived from the nearest student union indie disco, others look like they'd be more at home in the staff bar. After a couple of laps of this transformed 'nitespot', it becomes apparent that a genuinely peculier atmosphere is coalescing. Onto a white drape a projector casts grainy '70s home videos of a penguin enclosure and a car pulling in and out of a petrol station. The DJ is playing (whisper it!) tracks from the near-mythical B&S debut album 'Tigermilk', as well as gems of yesteryear like David Bowie's youthful novelty hit "The Laughing Gnome". Xylophones and recorders lie about on tables for those who feel that way inclined (and many do). The bar, meanwhile, is doing a roaring trade in Tiger Milk Shakes. The programme pack includes an I-spy card with a list of unreleased songs, complete with boxes to tick once you've heard of them, and a survey asking, "Who's best: Belle And Sebastian or Steps?" and "What looks best: Belle And Sebastian or Belle & Sebastian?" Someone was bound to ask. . . weren't they? B&S Fandom is an international community who all find a certain security in the company of like-minded people, leading to Actual Real Relationships and even, in one instance, marriage (six months ago, between New Yorkers Rachel and JJ). They are people who'll happily name their offspring Belle and Sebastian. Who'll meet up - in Primrose Hill, London, or Griffiths Park, LA - for picnics and games of Twister. Who are often inspried by their heroes to paint or engage in other less recognised forms of artistic endeavour. Who, incidentally, don't care much for Pete Waterman (he was personally invited tonight to see what it's all about, but appears to have had prior engagements). And who, in order to travel to the forthcoming Bowlie Weekender festival (conceived by Stuart Murdoch and to be held at Pontins holiday camp in Camber Sands), are hiring a red double-decker bus in the style of Cliff Richard and The Shadows' Summer Holiday. In Summary, your Belle And Sebastian fans are not totally normal. But they demand, or at least politely ask for, your respect. Far from a bunch of uniformed saddoes, their ranks are filled with odd-ball characters like Douglas Stewart, the ex-BMX Bandits singer and earlier champion of north-of-border tweeness, currently making a documentary on the band for the BBC. Who better, indeed, to combat the group's legendary camera-shy natures: he was, after all, in a band with Stuart Murdoch called Deadly Geometry, a bizarre project whose self-proclaimed mission - oh, the killing irony - was to achieve as much publicity as possible without actually creating any music. The forth-coming programme, Douglas also reveals, couldwell include a cartoon of the band illustrated in the style of an early '70s Bunty annual. Pete Waterman was apparently invited to provide the narration. Again, sadly, he declined. When this backwards-in-coming-forwards Scottish indie-folk combo won their Brit in February it was one of those great happening-without-permission moments that helps make pop seem like an interesting way of spending your time: the blank industry stares on the night, Pete Waterman's tabloid-backed vote-rigging allegations, the tri-partite aggression that's recently broken out from the pop world with Another Level and 5ive coming out on the side of Steps. The meek, it seemed, were ready to claim back at least part of that long-promised inheritance. It all amounted to a hilarious, momentous, unexpectedly visible demonstration of power from a group and fanbase that had previously appeared content to inhabit the margins of the musical world. That this victory over Pete Waterman and the ruffled pop darlings was achieved largely via the Internet is only fitting. Cyberspace has always appealed to those with dispositions of a closeted, furtive nature: the trademark of Stuart Murdoch's lyrical drift. So, if Belle And Sebastian really are to the '90s what The Smiths were to the '80s, this Net connection testifies to how society has become a rather different place in the interim. Where Smiths fans came together in solidarity with some oppositional, confrontational idea of changing the world, Belle And Sebastian fans - as perfect emblems of the downsizing generation - are simply seeking a little piece of independent space that they can call their own. That space usually turns out to be the Sinister Mailing List - and it is a strange place to be. Become one of its 900 subscribers and you're letting yourself in for a daily torrent of e-mail missives that, on any given day, could include everything from earnest discussions on lyrics to fictional messages from Stuart's mum. Votes can be cast on your favourite on-line people. Virtual kisses are exchanged. It's involved stuff, and the official Belle And Sebastian/Jeepster Records site gets between 160,000 and 200,000 hits a week. "People become mates because they've got one thing in common," says Papercuts fanzine editor Stephen Troussé of the on-line community. "But they don't just talk about that, they chat about anything. It's like being down the pub - except you're in three different continents." So what kind of talk usually occurs in the average Belle And Sebastian chatroom? "Smut. There's always a lot of smut. . . " Like Stephen, who also organises regular B&S meetings at Covent Garden's Poetry Café, many admirers seem unwilling to stop at mere hero worshipping indulgence, preferring instead to use the music as a jumping-off point for creativity. Alistair Fitchett, aka The Duke Of Harringay, has written a series of booklets called Belles Lettres (in part as homage to the similar Stuart David booklet Ink Polaroids Of Belle And Sebastian) in which he's attempted to capture the spirit of their songs. "I made about 50 or so of those and sold them at the Manchester shows. They sold out really quickly, actually," says Alistair, a Tiverton art teacher who forced his reluctant pupils ("They were all going, 'Oh, who's this, it's rubbish!'") to design alternative album covers for 'The Boy With The Arab Strap'. "I have met Stuart and Isobel and... it was nice, but what I really hate about pop music generally is this idea that the people who make the music are somehow different. I've met a lot of interesting people through the fanclub, but I prefer appreciating pop music as an individual, not being part of some clique or gang. The hardcore people who I feel most in common with are those who are doing things themselves - not just consuming, not just buying the records and talking endlessly about what Stuart meant by this or that." Following in this vein is one Sean Fleming who has been partly inspired by Belle And Sebastian ("everything now is more like a show and this isn't a show") to become an expressionist painter and musician. "You'll probably hear about me this time next year," he confidently assures. Is it possible, then, that a burgeoning Belle And Sebastian-inspired arty-literary-boho scene is in waiting, ready to sweep away Cool Britannia's over-hyped chancers? Talk to the group's chief female figure, Isobel Campbell, and it becomes clear that the band are, rather than true icons in the Morrissey mould, simply gifted extensions of the same quietly non-comformist world their fans occupy. Softly spoken - at times faltering, at times chatty - she's obviously still new to the world of interviews. And having only just finished college, she's no doubt rather taken aback at finding herself something of a style guru. Like the rest of the group, she's really neither a complete wide-eyed ingenue nor an utterly knowing ironist - which goes some way to supporting the idea that their non-image's absurd success falls somewhere between happy accident and media literate masterplan. "I just thought that when I went to university to study music... All my friends were signing on, and they were all lovely and things... I just thought that would happen to me," she recalls. "Then I joined the band and we were just suddenly getting all these phone calls and people asking us would you like to play here, blah blah blah. It's great and it's not to be knocked at all but even just the general business of it all is something to get used to." So does it feel odd to be the subject of a cult? "I suppose it is a bit strange. They all sort of meet and chat to each other... People do write to us as well, and we always try and reply. We get quite general ones just to Belle And Sebastian and a few others to each of us individually, saying things like, you know, how they've been quite fed up recently, things like that. I suppose it is quite odd that people write in to people they don't know. Sometimes people come up to you and talk to you and you don't think they know who you are and it turns out they're Belle And Sebastian fans." There's also plenty of unusual - if sort of appropriate - freebies flying their way "People send us lots of drawings. There was one time I got some silver angel wings. That was nice. And just lots of little gifts. Oh, and I got a dress sent to me and it fitted me perfectly. Actually, I don't even know if it was for me, it just sort of emerged. There was a note attached saying, 'I wonder if someone in Belle And Sebastian would like this?' It was blue velvet, sort of a pinafore thing.. So are you all quite excited after the Brits? "I think our families are a lot more than us. Everything kind of exploded when it happened. It was quite touching because of how obviously all the fans on the Internet had got together and initiated it all. And it was good to see Mick and Richard on the telly" So are you all getting something of a taste for the limelight now? "I don't know... We're all really, really busy and we're doing as much as we can manage. Probably not. Some bands get so over-exposed because you see their faces on the cover of everything and you end up quite sick of it really. You're not going to see our faces splashed all over the billboards or anything." Back in New Cross, the mood of enchantment is escalating fast, thanks in large part to the airing of huge chunks from Belle And Sebastian's canon. Conversation at the bar revolves around such topics as whether switching from four to three-track singles to become eligible for charts (as B&S appear likely to do) constitutes selling out'. And whether it's shameful to own up to only having 'Tigermilk' on tape. At one point immoderate excitement runs through the assembly at the rumour that Jo, the cover star of 'Tigermilk' (and Stuart's ex), is about to appear in person. She doesn't. The question for the uninitiated remains, though: just what is this group's particular appeal? "It's because they're difficult to find out about in the conventional way," reckons 18-year-old Andrew Farley. "You hear the name mentioned around quite a lot and it stands out as being unusual. And you think, 'That's strange, I've heard the name but not their songs on the radio, why is that?' You can't just pick up The Sun or The Mirror and find out what's going on. Well, before the Brits, this is..." David and Katrina, now of the group's record label Jeepster, but formerly humble shop assistants at Vinyl Experience in London's Hanway Street, testify to the musics strange incubatory effects. "We got given the '...Sinister' album by a rep and filled in the feedback questionnaire giving it about five out of ten," confesses Katrina. "But then we kept going back to it and playing it again and again until we had it on practically all the time. We kept ordering loads of copies to foist on as many people as possible. And loads of tourists who came in would go home with copies. "Then we went to their Borderline gig and David, who'd been doing the Elastica fanclub, went up to Stuart Murdoch and asked him if he could do their fanclub. He said fine, so we started that - organising the picnics and stuff - and eventually we joined Jeepster as it grew." So, now that you're part of the Jeepster family, are you still fans? "Well, Stuart and Isobel come to the office and afterwards we're going, 'Ooh, wow! They were here! We spoke to them!' [laughs] Like on a real high..." Such enthusiasm isn't rare. In fact it's common to find even more extreme reactions on the Net. Here's 'Guy': "i just want to say how much i love Belle And Sebastian, and how they possibly saved my life. At the time when i discovered them, i was going through a hard time in life, having quite a few problems with nobody to turn to. The beautiful and meaningful music they produce is a great antidote to the world we live in, with its vulgarity and falseness. Belle And Sebastian have shown me that life can be colourful and beautiful. They give me hope and belief that things will get better. God bless you Belle And Sebastian!!!!!!!" As it edges towards midnight in New Cross surprising scenes are taking place on the dancefloor. The dancier B&S tracks (meaning, er, 'Dirty Dream Number Two', basically) segue into a rock-out section (including the likes of T Rex's 'Jeepster') which causes what appears to be red-hot boogie action among the supposedly shrinking violet twee-kids. As the throng starts sweating with communal joy, it's clear that other factors over and above the love of the band itself bind this clan together. One unifying characteristic, of course, is a shared feeling of shyness. "Everyone is always rather reticent," says the evening's organiser and DJ, Joe Egg. "I felt rather shy handing out the flyers for tonight. And a big city - whether it's London or LA - can be a very lonely place, it's really hard to meet people who think like you. So if you're a young person who's predisposed to the Internet and likes the band, it's a good way of getting to actually meet like-minded people face-to-face." "It's really about people from all over the world who trust each other," adds Katrina. "If you say, 'I want to come over to stay', you'll be put up. It's a friends for life thing. If you say you're a Belle And Sebastian fan, people presume that everything else is similar too." "We're all very sad," adds David. "But we don't care!" The band's famously taciturn habits do appear to have rubbed off onto their fans. There's anything but unanimity even over the wisdom of tonight's fan convention, with some Net postings fearing wallflowers-looking-lost scenes reminiscent of '80s Smiths nights. Alistair, meanwhile, is not attending the Bowlie Weekender. "I just don't like the idea of festivals," he says. "I'm not very social.' And, in connection with this article, the Sinister mailing list founder, Paul Mitchell, says he's "not sure whether I want it publicised so much as we're a very special tidy little community!" Such awkwardness hints at the whole cult's current precarious position. According to Andy Parley, "It is a contradiction. You feel like you're part of a really select, minority thing. But at the same time there's a lot of us now. It's like anything, really, when it turns big." Maybe this bubble-like community has become about as big as it can get without bursting. There's already signs that a breakaway 'knew them in the beginning/prefer their old stuff' movement is rearing its head and, assuming that the group carries on widening its musical remit, those who think of Belle And Sebastian as Their Group could feel increasingly marginalised by any forthcoming Brits-enhanced success. Which, of course, only adds fittingly melancholic edge to the night's valedictory celebrations. That said, the cult's highpoint is still to arrive The Bowlie Weekender promises to be a feast of chalet-based frolics. That is if everyone behaves themselves and follows such tips as these from the official website: "Bring some pyjamas - afterall, most of you are sharing your chalet with people you only loosely know," and "If you're driving, check the weather before you leave and make sure that you stop off for short breaks during your journey." Above all, however, you should, "Make sure you've booked the Monday off work so you won't get into trouble when you don't turn up." It would, after all, be the nice and thoughtful thing to do. -- cheers david ----------------------------------------------------------------------- david kitchen : jeepster recordings ltd http://www.jeepster.co.uk/ mailto:shop@jeepster.co.uk WE ARE MOVING, NEW ADDRESS: PO BOX 14153, LONDON SW11 4XU, UK to subscribe to the news mailing list mail majordomo(a)jeepster.co.uk with the words 'subscribe news' in the body of the message +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "nambling pambling rice pudding & crochet holiday camp +-+ +-+ gangwanking whimsy-thon" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: This is just a sodden sock song
by Chris Jones 01 Apr '99

01 Apr '99

chris.jones(a)saqnet.co.uk http://www.saqnet.co.uk/users/saxtead/chris.htm I went to Scotland for the first time in my life last week, to Arran. Is there anyone from that neck of the woods on the list? I went via Glasgow Central, laden with my B&S badges hoping that some keen sinisteree would stop and have a chat with me, or even better a member of the band. Unfortunately the nearest I got was two schoolgirls commenting on my 'nice pants'. Does anyone else find that Tower Records is a bit small? The only EP it stocked was 'This Is Just A Modern Rock Song', and I couldn't find Weathershow either. Is that enough of my inane twitterings? I suppose so. Goodbye list, Chris Jones. +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "nambling pambling rice pudding & crochet holiday camp +-+ +-+ gangwanking whimsy-thon" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Sinister: The line-up (according to the NME)
by Ailsa Ross 01 Apr '99

01 Apr '99

The NME online seem to have beaten our own esteemed newslists to the following confirmed line-up, so for those of you interested, point yourselves to: http://www.nme.com/newsdesk/19990231123814news.html And that's it. Ailsa xx *********************************** chickclick.com http://www.chickclick.com girl sites that don't fake it. http://www.chickmail.com sign up for your free email. *********************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister(a)majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo(a)majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +-+ "nambling pambling rice pudding & crochet holiday camp +-+ +-+ gangwanking whimsy-thon" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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