General »   BOB - Future Plans

Can't say too much at the moment, but we're hoping to bring you news of an exciting BOB re-issue in the very near future. It strikes me that what with that, the possible live reunion in 2011, and the emergence of all the archive materials, there should be somewhere we can announce new projects, releases, etc. That place is now HERE.

The current negotiations involve BOB and a major label release of a previously released track in pristine, spanking new digital guise. Harmonies previously unheard and brass lines deliberately obscured should emerge blinking into the sunlight for the first time. That's quite enough of a clue. Full details to be released in 2 weeks if all goes to plan.

Over and out,
RvB

Blimey I'll be 40 in 2011. What a way to celebrate it with a fab BOB reunion!! Woohoo!

I've always said that if I won silly money on the lottery I'd pay for several bands to reform for a one off concert.

My line up would be in no particular order Cud, The Family Cat, BOB and the The Pale Saints/Edsel Auctioneer.

So if I watch Derren Brown on friday I could be on for it !! Watch this space !

Very gracious of you Simon to give up the headline spot and I think the only problem for that is Who on earth would headline such a gig?

For sheer showbusiness it would probably have to be the Mighty Cud band and Carl Puttnam. Knowing several members of the Cat they'd be too drunk to take the stage if it was any later than about 10pm. As for the Pale Saints/ Edsel Auctioneers, it would be difficult to know which one of these fine Leeds guitar combos I'd want playing but as they were almost interchangeable and covered holes in the other bands line ups at times it wouldn't matter.

Dear AJ and all.

I remember the name Gordon Jackson Five , and I'll bet that Simon will remember your music! Thanks for your really kind message, and I'm glad that you still like 'The Hippy Goes Fishing'...it has a place in my affections too.

I've not raised my voice in this forum for quite a while...mainly because I seem to live a somewhat ridiculously busy life...and the vast majority of thay busy-ness is just great at keeping me away from any real 'leisure time' on the internet. I'm lucky to work in 'The Arts', which is pretty mellow but very engaging, and the rest of the time is spent making music. I'm currently in 3 bands...much more of that another day.

Ok, so some BOB news:

Universal Music are releasing a box set called 'Kats Karavan - The History Of John Peel On The Radio'. It's a 4-CD set and our single 'Convenience' has been included on it. You'll find some details here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kats-Karavan-History-John-Radio/dp/tracks/B002N1BNXC

It was lovely (and lucky) that we got asked to contribute a track, and it led to a right palaver. Having agreed to put the track on the set, I went home to go through The Library(!) of BOB tapes, and, predictably, 'Convenience' was about the only BOB release for which I couldn't find a master mix. All I could find was the original 2" 24-track session tape, recorded at Moles Studio in Bath. Bloodied but unbowed, I resolved to have the analogue tape transferred to digital so that I could remix it for the box set...reasoning that it'd be good to have a digital master of the song anyway, because there had never been a CD release of it, just the original vinyl.

I sent the tape to The Sawmills to be transferred, but they found that age and damp had rendered the tape's oxide layer 'sticky' and thus unplayable on a tape machine. The solution was to send the tape to London to be baked in an oven for 4 days by a nice man with a beard, who then did the transfer to digital. Having succcessfully achieved that, he then beamed the 24-tracks of 'Convenience', via the Internet, to me, in a studio in Cornwall, with mixing engineer John Cornfield. John is a bit of a dude...look him up...he did 'The Dukes Of Stratosphear' stuff, and much more.

Anyway, we re-created the old mix, and then allowed ourselves the luxury of tweaking it very slightly for the new millennium! You wont hear drastic changes...only subtle differences. It was good that Dean came down to join me in the studio for the mix; I'd not seen him for quite a while.

It was very nice re-visiting the recording after all these years; a real trip down the hackneyed memory lane. Nicest of all was hearing a few of the guitar licks hidden by the original mix.

It's 20 years since 'Convenience' came out and this new release is, I must admit, very gratifying. I'd LOVE to know what you all think!

Richard von BOB XXX

Baked for 4 days! Much amusement. One day we'll have the whole BOB canon in a portable format - as much as I love digging out the BOB vinyl now and then (yep, still got the turntable hooked up), I'd love to hear it all cleaned up and lovely again.

Hi All,
I downloaded Convenience from itunes today - and already played it to death! The new mix is a good contrast with the original, and still sounds soooo commercial and contemporary.

Some kind soul has posted a high quality audio file of the original version on Youtube, which converts nicely to MP3, and complements the excellent video posted by our very own Kapitan Schwarz. C'mon people, buy buy buy! It would be great to get Convenience to the number one spot in the hit parade for xmas. Alright bate? NotArf!
Cheers
Mark

Hi all,
BOB gigs were incredible events, saw you 3 times in Birmingham, Burberries (a couple of times I think) and the Irish Centre (or somewhere in Digbeth, can't quite remember).

It's great that there's so much BOB stuff available on line, many thanks. Superb to hear the gigs on this site.

My wife and I still have our BOB badges!

Please do some gigs, so we can wear our badges again!

Cheers

Steve