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18-November-08 - Never Say Never Again We're getting back together for a one-off gig over the Christmas period, almost one year after we split up due to distance issues. We played our first ever gig back in 2006 at The Swan With Two Necks after Gaz proudly told the landlord something along the lines of "Hi, I'm in a band and we're miles better than this shit. Can we have a gig?". Andy (the landlord in question) then told us that if we wanted to gig, we had to take to the stage after the band had finished and jam for the pub on their heavy-metal, drop-tuned instruments. We did, he liked it, and two weeks later we played our first ever gig. It's been two and a half years since that gig now, and with all of this energy we've been saving up for the past 376 days, we were going to explode if we didn't gig soon. So make sure you don't miss out on the best Ape gig of the year yet - get your arses down to The Swan With Two Necks on Friday 2nd January (we're leaving thursday 1st free for you to cure your hangovers) at about 8pm. With support from Natural Invention, and possible another maxonian great, this is one gig you do not want to miss. Will 23-December-07 - Goodbye! We have officially disbanded. We're splitting up due to distance problems. There is an obvious problem with being in a band when all the members are at different unis that lie about 400 miles apart. I told the others today that I wasn't happy with it anymore, and as a result we've decided to just go our own ways. Thankyou to: -Liam for helping me stay in tune at all of our gigs, -Nik for helping us shift our equipment about in the early days, -Our parents for putting up with our band practices, -Matt for photographing our gigs -And finally everyone who attended our gigs, bought our EP, or even just visited our websites, If you haven't already got it, you can now download our EP from http://www.apefunk.any1host.com/downloads/music/HeresLookinAtYouEP.zip. Sorry if you paid for your copy of it. Life's a bitch. Will 01-December-07 - A Christmassy Update I'm going to start by thanking everyone who supported us in Leeds the other day. A lot of fun was had by all of us (despite a few technical cock ups) and we hope to come back up there soon to see you all again! Next, heres a boring old plug for a gig. We have now recieved tickets to sell for the gig at Studio on the 21st of the month, and are flogging them at £4 each, or £12 for 4 (an incentive for you to bring your mates, I do belive!!). The three other bands playing with us are Serpentine Pad (straight forward rock), The Sundogs (Manchester indie music), and Band_C (awesome funk/jazz/rock). Check out their music on the links below!! As we've already said, doors are at 7.30, and we're on at 8. After all the bands have finished, the drinks offers will continue and the DJ will play until 2.30am. Band_C - Funk/Jazz/Rock The Sundogs - Indie/Rock Serpentine Pad - Rock 04-November-07 - Christmas Gig Announced! First, a note - I can't be arsed typing in the third person any more. God knows why everything in the news column has been written like this so far. We have been asked to play a gig at Studio in Manchester on the last Friday before Christmas (the 21st). Studio is what used to be Late Rooms, and is below what is now Chicago Rock Cafe. We are opening up the nights fun, and will be the first of four bands to take to the stage, before letting the DJ take control until 2.30 in the morning!! Drinks are going to be 1.50 all night too, so what better way to start off the Christmas celebrations than this? Check out the gigs page for more info!! 01-October-07 - Leeds Gig Announced! Ape have been asked to support Nu York State at a gig in the Mine, at Leeds University Student Union on 27th November. This is a gig that the band are very excited about, mainly due to Nu York State's extreme funkiness. You can check them out at www.myspace.com/dannygoughsnuyorkstate. Hopefully what with Ape's slightly heavier approach to funk, and Nu York State's more typical approach, the night will be just as varied as it is funky. Entry price is unknown at the moment, but it's a Student Union so it'll be cheap. As will be the beer... 30-August-07 - Gigs and CDs Wednesday marked a memorable day for Ape, with the band playing to the packed Manchester Roadhouse, and on the same day releasing their EP 'Here's Lookin' At You' for general sale. The half-hour EP is (as described by Gaz, the band's drummer) 'six tracks of ear-sex', and ranges from the downright funky 'See See Casey', to the beautiful 'Gods and Birds', to the hard hitting 'Kick in the Teeth', to the solo filled, crowd pleasing 'Distress'. Ape all but sold out of copies of the EP on it's first day on sale, so get in quick before they've all disappeared completely Also, the band is pleased to announce they are supporting Macclesfield indie rockers "The Corruption" in a three-piece unplugged set at The Townhouse in Macclesfield on Friday 31st August. The set's going to feature stripped down versions of the bands current songs, along with some covers they have never played before in public. 19-August-07 - Here's Lookin' At You The majority of the work for the EP is now complete, with only a few tracks worth of vocals left, and a bit of final mixing. This means that "Here's Lookin' At You" should be available by the time Ape take to the stage at the Roadhouse on the 29th of August. This will almost certainly be Ape's last gig of the summer, so should be awesome. Just a quick reminder that entry is only £3 with a flyer, available from any member of the band, or from their many family members and friends. Cheap entry will only be accepted before 9.30, so make sure you're there by then!! Ape should have finished playing by 10.45 too, leaving time to get the train home!! See you then! 29-July-07 - EP Recording Begins The band spent today recording 7 songs worth of drum tracks for their new EP, currently titled "Here's Looking At You". They're aiming to complete the EP by mid August, and it'll be on sale or download for only a few quid. As well as recording all the tracks (of which only four or five will make the EP), the band also recorded on video "Out of Order", with the eventual aim of producing a music video for the song. 18-July-07 - Roadhouse Gig Confirmed! Ape have confirmed their second major gig of the Summer. They are proud to announce that they will be playing at The Roadhouse in Manchester on Wednesday 29th of August. Despite being offered the chance to headline, Ape opted for the penultimate slot, to accomodate for people travelling to the gig by public transport. A stronger, tighter set than ever before will look to close August with a bang for the band who only made their Manchester debut last week. 11-July-07 - Post-Academy "I'll be honest, we f*cking loved playing at the Academy! Even though we ran over a little time-wise, and there was a mad rush at the start as Ape were providing the drums and Will's car broke down, the overall vibe of the night was one of pure funk-rock. Hopefuly some photos of the night will be up here soon as we had 300 taken of us!! Also, we're now contacting other venues in the hope of looking for follow up gigs, aswell as talking about maybe hitting the Academy once more before going back to uni!" Will 03-July-07 - Manchester Academy 3 A replacement to the Late Room gig was promised, and Ape can now confirm that they will be playing Manchester Academy 3 on Tuesday the 10th of July. Ape are playing as part of the Academy's unsigned night. They're on first at 8.00pm sharp. Doors open at 7.30. Tickets for the whole night (including three other great bands) are on sale for £5 and can be purchased from any band member. Alternatively if you want tickets to see us, message us over myspace or facebook and we'll see what we can do. 01-July-07 - Joe For personal reasons, Joe is no longer with the band. He will be missed from Ape both as a bassist and good friend. Hopefully he can put his funky bass lines and chilled out attitued to use somewhere else. He is currently being filled for by Will Soutter (multi talented musician from many bands in and around Macclesfield). 29-June-07 - Late Room Ape are sorry to announce that the Late Room gig has been cancelled. Sorry if you were looking forward to it. Watch this space for a replacement venue and date. 10-June-07 - Late Room Ape's first gig of the Summer has been booked at the Late Room on Peter Street in Manchester. It's part of the Late Room's 'Plastic Surgery', a band night for unsigned bands around the area. Ape are playing as one of four bands on that night. With new material to unleash on the public, the band is very excited about this gig. If the gig goes well, then Ape will also be playing some time soon at Manchester Academy 3 - another gig not to be missed! Entry is £4 before 11pm, and £5 after (or £3 all night with NUS). Queue jumper tickets can also be purchased in advance from Fopp in Manchester. 14-April-07 - Away again! Yet again, the foursome has been pulled away from the fantastic world of song writing to concentrate on their degrees again. Over Easter, the band finalised ideas for a few new songs, and whilst nothing is yet set in concrete, the first month of summer should see the bands gig-able material shoot up in volume. This term they are not planning to meet up, and instead get on with the work that they’ve neglected over the past six months. But don’t worry, they’re planning to hit the ground running come June when they all get back together. 9-March-07 - Ape Come Home Since the apes have been away at their various univerities, four new songs have been written over the magic of the internet. Ape are returning home for a weekend to swap ideas and celebrate Joe’s 19th. Over two months have passed since the band last practiced, and whilst ideas have been passed back and forth over the internet, nothing beats jamming together when it comes to song writing. 6-January-07 - Back To Uni After a productive Christmas, the members of Ape have parted to return to their degrees for a few months. Going off to Bath, Leeds and Nottingham (with only Izzy remaining on their home turf) means that song writing will become difficult yet again for Ape. However, after having fans cry out for more material over Christmas, Ape are intending to write a new batch of music before Easter. 29-December-06 - The Swan With Two Necks Ape’s only real gig over Christmas involved starting the New Years weekend at the Swan With Two Necks in Macclesfield. The original idea was that they would be playing with Macclesfield’s Silent Slave, but the band pulled out at the last minute. This meant that Ape had to go it alone, and having only been a full band for a month, this meant that the set was only an hour long. However, quality prevailed over quantity, and the gig went down a storm, attracting fans from as far away as London! 7-December-06 - Izzy After spending months looking for a replacement singer, Ape’s struck gold. Daniel “Izzy” Issawi contacted the band through their myspace and agreed to learn the bands current songs in time for Christmas. After practicing once with Izzy, it became apparent that he was the missing link in Ape’s funky gold chain. Big things are ahead... |