It's The Taking Part That Counts - the Opening Ceremony

as you know, last Saturday (28th July) saw the Global Pop Sportsday live in London's Union Chapel, well, those nice Arctic Circle chaps have a PODCAST which includes live tunes from Pete Astor, Hong Kong In The 60's and the Leaf Library (among others)... why not have a listen?

Arctic Circle's Sports Day Broadcast by Arctic Circle Radio on Mixcloud

How Does It Feel's gig of the week

HDIF's Gig Of The Week Sat July 28 - Pete Astor + Leaf Library + Hong Kong In The 60s at Union Chapel A special daytime show in the bar at the Union Chapel to celebrate the release of "It's The Taking Part That Counts", an olympics themed compilation album released by the estimable Where It's At Is Where You Are records (the folks that released the Bruce Springsteen tribute album that inadvertently led to the formation of Allo Darlin' as a band). Headliner Pete Astor once led The Loft and The Weather Prophets, of course, while both The Leaf Library and Hong Kong In The 60s have played HDIF Presents before - all are highly recommended. It's free admission and runs from midday to 2pm, and doesn't feature any announcements by Boris Johnson!

it's the taking part that counts launch party

yup, just 10 days to go now until the opening ceremony, so seems a good time to mention our own opening ceremony, and seven reasons it will be BETTER

1. the wiaiwya global pop sportsday is FREE!
2. it takes place in the Union Chapel - the best live venue in London!
3. it's on a Saturday 28th July!
4. it's presented by those nice people at Arctic Circle!
5. it starts at Midday, and goes on til two, leaving the alfernoon to hang out with CHUMS!
6. it features Pete Astor!, Hong Kong in the 60s! and the Leaf Library!
7. you can get your copy of the album there, so you don't have to listen to Muse constantly throughout August!

a Metro review for It's The Taking Part That Counts

we have a review in the Metro:

There will doubtless be other musical tributes to the Olympics, be they blandly triumphalist orchestral anthems or bombastic power ballads, but none will be as charming as this two-CD collection, in which each of the 26 sports at the London Games are represented by a single track.

The Leaf Library - Badminton House (Badminton)

the Leaf Library are an ACTUAL dream, a kraut folk dream of pastoral machines, and mechanical pastors, like blueboy playing hallogallo on a picnic... dreamy...

Some facts about Badminton and our song: Badminton was brought back to Britain in the mid-eighteenth century by retired military officers from India. The sport gets its name from Badminton House in Gloucestershire, although no one really knows why. Even on the internet. Anyway, that's what the lyrics are about. To get in the zone for making the drum track, Lewis sat and watched online clips from badminton matches. No one knows if he wore a sweatband or even warmed-up properly. I haven't played badminton for years and, whilst admittedly good exercise, our sessions at school were mainly used for hitting shuttlecocks at Ben Allen. The biggest section by far on the Wikipedia badminton page is titled 'Deception'.

Written by The Leaf Library, recorded and mixed by Lewis Young
Gareth Jones: bass
Kate Gibson: vocals
Lewis Young: drum progamming, guitar
Matt Ashton: guitar, keyboard