I know next to nothing about football.

OK, that's a lie. I know absolutely nothing about football. However like millions of fellow fair-weather sports fans, I'll probably end up watching most of the world cup. I may even shout at referees and claim to have understood why the man in the blue shirt fell over! The interwebs reliably inform me that England's first game is this Saturday (12^th June) against the USA, which strikes me as a little odd as I always assumed the Americans would be too busy for football, preferring a nice game of baseball, or a war.

Anyhow! It just so happens that we'll be down in That London on this fated Saturday evening, ready to play a full-fat post-match Soviets gig down at the lovely Monto Water Rats. So if you're in the area, pop on down to catch the football live on a massive projection screeny thing, and then us (equally live) on a massive stagey thing. I shall be stood next to Micky, who knows everything about football (seriously, you should see him go on pub quiz sports machines...), trying bask in his knowledge and thus making myself look slightly less ignorant....

Enough plugging damnit! Where the bloody hell did my sunshine go? I can only assume it's being syphoned off by our lovely new coalition government as an alternative fuel source...  or a way of powering Our Great Leader's internal smugness drive – providing boundless arrogance and self satisfaction all year round... or perhaps it's simply that I live in Newcastle and yet still expect at least 4 months of summer per year. Where do you think the sun went? Send us a message on Facebook and let us know your theories!

Most entertaining one wins the moon on a stick.

Hello to everyone, welcome to my first blog for The Soviets. I first met these guys after I had played an acoustic gig at the sage in Gateshead and was then invited to see a band playing at The Cluny. Straight away I knew I wanted to be a part of The Soviets and therefore after practising like mad, many drunken nights and persuading the guys it was a good idea here I am, ready, willing and able. I would also like to mention and thank Iain Crummie for giving me the first initial help to get me into the groove and want to wish him all the best with his new wife. Cheers Iain!

I feel it is right to let you know about the monumental night we had in London playing at The Water Rats on Saturday 3^rd May. If you missed it, fear not, we’re due back there on the 15^th May to headline. It’s going to be more special for us as we will be the main act!! Anyone wishing to join us can simply contact us via e-mail at info@therecklessgeneral.co.uk and let us know.

After arriving in London on Saturday afternoon and performing our soundcheck, making sure Elliot had the appropriate amount of tea to operate the small office he builds next to his drum kit, we headed off to The Big Chill House. It was a strange thing to witness in that bar - it started off as just the band ordering our chicken burgers with four chips and marvelling at the vibrating coasters which tell you get up and your food – and then out of nowhere we’re swamped with The Soviets entourage all beaming from their shopping trip in Camden and perfecting their “Landan Look”. We were lucky enough to be joined by Hattie Murdoch, who managed to scrape the spare five minutes she gets these days, and her lovely new bag which she claims smells like fish. Personally I think she went to the wrong market stall!

As the topic of shopping started to lose its power (five minutes for the boys) Andy Mackin and myself decided it was time to have a wander. Leaving Hattie and her odorous bag, the now very London looking girls and Steven ‘probably writing a song in his head’ Cochrane, and about 100 other adoring fans, we headed out to gaze at the bright lights of London before calmly arriving at the venue ready to perform. It was a gig like no other, I have to admit this, it was awesome. The fans in London have a great way of losing themselves in the music.

It’s a powerful thing to be a part of. You stand on stage and out of the speakers you can hear the start of our next single “The Waitress” creeping out…then the band kicks in together waiting only for Micky Cochrane to open his submarine-like lungs. The crowd starts jumping up and down and it’s that moment you’re thinking “I’m a Soviet…I’m a god damn music loving Soviet!” The band continued with our set ‘No Love’ then ‘This is Who We Are’, ‘Turned On’ all just as strong as the last, my fingers are burning but I can’t stop, the music won’t let me! My full respect goes to Steven Cochrane for writing these tunes - they’re unstoppable! Then for our last song ‘Become the Sunshine’ it’s god damn euphoric, please stop me but being a part of it is an amazing feeling. We all had that feeling after the gig where you look at each other thinking... You were awesome mate; Absolutely awesome.

It’s like we are fans playing songs for fans! Maybe we owe a lot to Micky for not letting us drink any alcohol before the gig (I think I was responsible for that idea after being a bit tipsy at our last outing - which I think is going to be televised!).  But let me leave you with this….if you want to feel like I do, get involved, jump aboard and let this ship sail!

Russ

 I'm wiped out. The band played Newcastle on Friday night, London's famous Water Rats on Saturday, a money-making covers gig on Sunday, and a unique acoustic set back in Newcastle on Monday.

Two of the gigs were recorded, and will form part of our rewards program for the newly-assembled Street Team. This is open to any RGR fan who wants to take part, and involves a few minutes helping the label out each week. For that little outlay we will give you shiny and exclusive things, including live content and previews of our new material before anyone else gets it. The information page is self-explanatory and the introductory email should answer any other questions.

On top of this help, the label has taken on two interns in the shape of Alex & Shannon, who will become more active on the website as things start to heat up for the band and the gigs take more of our time.

Even more exciting than this, Hattie's EP is almost finished and everyone at RGR is starting to work on the promotion and artwork for that. All in all, as both projects continue to gain momentum we're increasingly excited to be working together and all eyes point to the near future with anticipation.

I love being part of the Soviets, it’s great!
And right now, it feels even better than usual. See, we did a lot last year.  We recorded "Who we are", and shot a video for "The Waitress", and played loads of gigs, and worked on the record label, and... You get the idea.
And I quit my job. Yip, I left the security of the working world to do this full time.  So now I call myself a musician when people ask what I do. I think that’s pretty cool in itself - I like it anway!

So last year was pretty hectic and also pretty good.  But this year? This year looks good to me. I fancy this year. This year is gorgeous and I want to take it for a meal. All true.
Because this year we’re releasing the first single, going on tour and musically assaulting anything and anyone we see. Why? Because we believe in the music.  We want to play it to people.  We get a kick out of it.  Simple as that.
Oh, and because now I do this for a living, you’ll be hearing more from me I reckon!
This year! Ah, this year...

I'm a realist.

If you were hanging on my every word I’d have been mobbed in the street by
now. I guess that means I’m not a perfect blogger. But hey – practice makes
bearable eh?

So, on the insistence of a certain drummer, here are some snippets of
information mixed with comments and observations from the past few months.

A while back, we were the studioviets, working with John & Andrew at Loft
Music.

We did our job and they did theirs. I should tell you I think they played a
blinder (but if I did that, it would only feed their egos!)

You can hear the end result on the ‘music’ page of this very website. I’m
over the moon with it and hope you enjoy it.

More recently, J6 films and Toma Jablon made us the videoviets, the result
of which is available on YouTube.

If you would like to purchase your very own copy of the EP, you can get it
from iTunes (just the digital songs for your mp3 player if that’s what you
like), or in CD format (including artwork + plush packaging) from this site
or direct from the band at any of the gigs.

Speaking of gigs, we’ve recently played some amazing shows with a number of
other acts, to some wonderful audiences.

Cheers to all who came down to The Cluny, Dazed & Fuzed (at World
Headquarters), and Born Snapped (at Hyem in Heaton).

Our next show will be at Hyem on January 23rd as part of their charity
all-dayer; where we’ll be debuting our temporary bass player.

We’ve also been confirmed to visit London on March 11th, when we play the
Dublin Castle in Camden. I hope you can make it down – it will be a blinder.

I’ve been working on some new songs recently. Two of these will be added to
the live set pretty soon. One is “Weight In Your Arms” and the other is
provisionally titled “Look Down” (but I’m pretty sure that’ll change before
you hear it!)

I don’t get paid by the word, so that’s all I have to tell you about at the
minute. I think I said “information, comments, and observations” at the
start.

Hope I wasn’t too ambitious.