Program

2 x Splatter Rock von der Insel mit schlagzeugüberdosis

Stubnitz.Black.Box: ein spezieller überraschungs-act.

Action Beat

act? ACTION BEAT

style / genre? CRAP

names & instrumentation?
DON0)))LD - DEVIANCE NOTES
BONES - RAPE STRINGS
APOLO GREED - BASS LORD
MR PETER JAMES TAYLOR - BARRY TONES
HAZE - HAIRY HEAD
DRUM HEAD NUMBER 1 - BOOM
WALZ - BANG
TOAD - CRASH

average age? 46

home? YOUR BOAT

earlier projects / history / collaborations?

http://www.southern.com/southern/band/ABEAT/biog.php

influence / ideology?

LOADS AND LOADS OF LOVE. PUNK WROCK. SUPER SOUNDS OF THE 70'S.

actual label / last product?

SOUTHERN RECORDS - BEATINGS

homepage / mailorder / contact?

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/ACTIONBEAT - FORTISSIMORECORDS@HOTMAIL.COM

Current Location:
Bletchley, UK

Artists we also like:
Bilge Pump.

Influences:
Sonic Guff, Nearvana, Glenn Wanker, BoredOHMs, fuckazi, White Fag, Small Black, The sEx, Zooooo, mum jokes, shit jokes.
Band interests:
Booze, Weed, Touring until our mind's crack (75 days straight is the record so far... I know, pussies).
Getting in Debt (£10,137 at this point).
Pretending we are fugazi by running our mouth's about diy, eithics, and not making band t-shirts... we're nothing like them.
Ripping the absolute piss out of each other until someone is in tears (normally Taylor).
Scrapping and crashing vans.
Euclid Amplifiers made by Joe from Bilge Pump.
Biography:
Action Beat is an improvised noise/no-wave punk band, which is often made up of musicians who are available to play the gig on any particular date. Their sound is like early Sonic Youth, The EX and Glenn Branca, whilst their live energy is like Fugazi. They have the touring ethic of Black Flag and want to play as many shows as they possibly can. The band have recently played with up to 14 members on stage, but at a normal gig will have at least 3 guitarists, a bassist and between 1 and 4 drummers.

History to date:

Action Beat was created by Don Mclean and James Carney in 2004, as a tribute to the various drum and bass spazz outfit�s which seemed to be emerging around this time. Although they were extremely incompetent musicians, the band managed to play a lot of gigs, much to the bemusement of their audiences. The comedy outfits they would adorn for live shows always seemed to make up for their sporadic, nonsensical noise shows, which on average, would last
about 10 minutes and usually end with the skinny, half naked frame of James Carney jumping into the beat-up, mangled mess of Don Mclean�s drum kit.

The first three Action Beat shows were played at; a friends Birthday party, a charity gig for children, and a Battle of the bands in Milton Keynes. After playing around 20 local shows as a drum and bass act, James and Don decided to switch to instruments they could actually play (guitars), and in the process, laid the foundations for the wall of sound which is now recognisable at Action Beat shows. Guitars were tuned differently, amps were played at preposterous volumes, delay pedals were abused, and the comedy costumes were ditched. They also incorporated a drum machine into their set so that the rhythm was always precise, thus allowing the guitars to freak out into their own frenzied worlds.

The band played many shows from 2004-2005, though the most memorable event as a 2 piece has to be �the Christmas day tour of 2005�. James and Don hired a generator, and on Christmas day, they played outside in the freezing cold at various places around Bletchley and Milton Keynes. A handful of dedicated supporters followed them to 4 locations; two underpasses, a bridge, and the town�s skate park. The noise was so intense, that people could hear it from up to a mile away! I can�t think of another band that has played outside on Christmas day, and this is what Action Beat is all about.
In 2006, Don booked a UK tour for the American band �Parts and Labor�, and Action Beat was allowed to support the band for the 10 dates. For this tour, James Walsh was asked to play drums, and Pete Taylor was asked to play Bass. Although this wasn�t the first time the band had used a live drummer, they found that they were able to change the rhythm and tempo of the songs more freely, whilst incorporating dynamics and a variety of sonic assaults using the guitars.

After the tour, the band decided to play with live drummers for every show, and eventually added more than one drummer at most gigs. Since the band�s sound is mostly improvised, any drummer can play with Action Beat as long as they are competent enough to keep a beat. During 2006, the band played with a collection of wonderful drummers, but the main members included: Jake Burton, James Walsh, Danny Hawkins and Beanie.
In January 2007, Lewis Webb was asked to play bass guitar, whilst Pete Taylor moved to Baritone. Webb�s bass lines kept a very definite tempo during the sets, and he was able to play the role of �conductor� for the �mixed bag� of drummers, who would often look to him for signals to change the rhythm/progression/volume. The amplified sound of 6 members creating electrical havoc in a synchronised fashion meant that people were literally blown away by the sheer volume and audacity of the new Action Beat.

The band recorded as a 5 piece at Southern Studios in January 2007. They turned up to the studio with nothing rehearsed and improvised two songs; �More Hookie� and �Maximum Bletchley�. They played regular shows throughout the UK, and toured again in February. In August 2007, they recorded 3 more improvised songs at Southern; �Tay�, �Justice Yeldham� and �Daddy Thirsty�, this time integrating Saxophone, Trumpet and Violin into the sound. Their first record, �1977-2007 � Thirty Years of Hurt, The Us Cunts Exploded� was made up of 5 songs recorded at southern in 2 days, and a re-mix of �Maximum Bletchley� by their friend �Destructo Swarmbots�.

In September 2007, Action Beat booked their first European tour, playing 27 dates in a row as a 9 piece band which included; 3 guitars, bass, baritone, 3 drummers, and violin. 6 months later, in April 2008, the band returned to Europe as a 9 piece to play 30 shows in 9 different countries, within a 37 date time frame.In April 2009, we did a 9 week tour in 10 countries. God we rock.
End of 2009, we toured in Norway, and this happened:

-----------Wednesday, October 07, 2009 ---------------
Fucked Van - Fucked, basically.
Okay,

So we travelled to Norway on the last tour, and you'll never guess what?! Our Van broke down in Bergen. This usually happens every time we tour, but we didn't expect it to happen after paying £1700 on repairs (thanks LDV). Top it off, Bergen is geographically one of the worst place to break down in Europe. Financially, it is devestating.
Add some more icing to the cake, the German Pigs pulled us over, did a piss test on our driver, and turns out there was THC in his piss!! Whooooo!!! That's another 1000� bill!!!!

Norwegians pay bands really well, but we were stranded in Bergen for 6 days straight. Being a 6 piece band, this is extremely expensive, especially when a meal costs you £10 a head, and £5 is a cheaply priced beer. We were living off £2 hot dogs for days, much to the dismay of our guts, and assholes. mmmm....

We had an amazing time in Bergen and met a lot of new friends (you all know who you are). The town even put on a benefit concert for us, and the local paper ran a story telling everyone how fucked we were. Without the help of Fred, Solgun, Line and Elizabeth, we would be close to death out there. An extremely desperate situation.

After 6 days in Bergen, the garage told us that the van was fucked, and so we had no choice but to fly home. We arrived at the airport, and tried to book all 6 of us on the same flight. Only 3 flights were available, and so that cost us £700 for 3 people. 3 people then had to fly on a more expensive flight, which was close to £400 per person. It was complete extortion, but what can you do?

So, in the end, Action Beat 'the mug band from Bletchley' spent £1700 on repairs to a van that was never going to make another tour. 1000� to the Germans, cause we are weed addicts. And, £1800 on flights. Tell me about any band that goes through that shit??!

Our van is still stuck in Bergen, with all our equipment. We recently bought two custom amplifiers for £700, and 2 guitar cabs for £500. They are stuck in the van, and we have no idea if they are still there?! All our shit has probably been robbed!!!

All I can do is laugh, or I'll go mental.

Action Beat is in about £9000 debt now. We don't make money on tour, because our van is constantly breaking. It's now a write off. We don't make money from record sales, cause we're not that popular.

We love playing in a band, and we have met so many cool people. We've played around 200 and something shows in 2 years, and so now we will probably have to take a little break, to work real, shit jobs, earn some money and save for our next tour. It sucks, but what else is there to do?!

I don't know why I am telling you all about our shitty problems. To you, we are probably just a band. This is just to clarify that we aren't these rich pricks living off music. Quite the opposite. Our music lives of us.

Wanna book us for a £10,000 fee??? fortissimorecords@hotmail.com

Don

We then travelled to France, Switzerland, Italy and were supposed to be going to Spain, then ending the tour in Benelux.
For this set of dates, we decided to hire a van, and set off to play in paris, but unfortunately, we missed the show, because we were too slow and stupid to leave Bletchley in time!! Paris was fucked, but the next day we played SOY festival in Nantes. Great show. day after, we travel to Lyon, and on the way, we smash the van on the highway!!! waaaaye, fucking quality mate.
Miss another show. 2/3 so far. We continue the rest of the tour, driving in 2 hire cars, with the majority of our equipment in one car, and the band in the other. great. So shit. One of the worst times of our lives, but thanks to all the cool people who put us on, it didn't suck too bad, and we laught about it now.

The last tour of the year was a stint in Benelux, and then a flight (our first time travelling as a band on a plane!!) over to a festival in switzerland.

It was a fucking crazy year, and will be well documented soon. We played 107 shows in total, 17 more than 2008.

From 2004 to 2009, Action Beat has played somewhere in the region of 400 gigs with many bands including: Do Make Say Think, Dalek, Oxes, ZU, Usaisamonster, Bilge Pump, Destructo Swarmbots, OVO and many more.

WE HAVE A NEW RECORD COMING OUT IN 2010. IT'S ALREADY RECORDED AND MIXED, WE ARE CURRENTLY PUTTING THE DESIGN TOGETHER. (read less)
Action Beat is an improvised noise/no-wave punk band, which is often made up of musicians who are available to play the gig on any particular date. Their sound is like early Sonic Youth, The EX and Glenn Branca, whilst their live energy is like Fugazi. They have the touring ethic of Black Flag and want to play as many shows as they possibly can. The band have recently played with up to 14 members on stage, but at a normal gig will have at least 3 guitarists, a bassist and between 1 and 4... (read more)
Facebook Page:
http://www.facebook.com/actionbeat