Cloudberry giveaway!

A bit of an update on that free gift that Colin mentioned in the previous post, then...

We've just received a batch of 30 3" CDs from Roque at Cloudberry Records, so the first 30 people through the door at the next night on Saturday 11th October will get a free 5-track Cloudberry Records CD that looks a little something like this (except less pixellated, of course):




These are all numbered discs and are only going to be available at Half My Heart Beats and two other club nights (Big Pink Cake in Bristol and Hit The North in Hamburg). We're not quite sure how best to distribute these yet as the entrance is going to be shared between us and another club night, so if you don't get one of these lovelies at the door, please come and harass Colin or me for one.

Speaking of the door, we're now planning on starting the night at 11pm rather than 10pm (we'll still be running until 3am). If you want to come down before 11pm and take advantage of the free entry, you should still come in the door in the alleyway which you would have come in last time. The kitchen will be open from 9pm and we might turn up early and stick some CDs on and have a drink anyway. Because of problems with noise in that alley, the back door has to be closed at 11pm, and if you arrive after that you should go in the front door on Renfield Street. Confused? Us too, a bit, but it should all become clear when you get there. In summary: before 11pm, you get in free and come in via the kitchen; after 11pm you have to pay four of our British pounds and you have to come in via Renfield Street and the main room.

And speaking of the main room.... I think Colin already said in his previous post that we'd be moving rooms. I'm sure there will be some small teething problems with the new set-up too, so please feel free to come up and chat to us on the night if you want to make any suggestions regarding how we can improve the night (I know you're not shy).

New flyer and news of HMHB 2

Sorry for the lack of posts in the last week or so. We've just been catching up on all the other stuff that's been ignored while we've been plotting and scheming for the first night! Well, as you can see we've got a new flyer design, courtesy of David Smitten of The Smittens. How great is it that instead of trying to sue us for nicking their song title for the name of our club, they offer to design our flyers? If you want to see more of David's work, have a look at this.
Plans are steadily taking shape for the second Half My Heart Beats, which will take place on Saturday 11th October. After much consideration, we've decided to move to the main room at The Flying Duck to give you all a bit more space, particularly for dancing! Lynsey and I both love the kitchen, but I think most people who were at the first club night would agree that we could use a bit more space, hence the move.
We're also hoping to have a free gift for the next club night, but I better not say what it is until they've arrived, as they're currently on their way from Florida. All will become clear! If we can't manage it for next time, we'll definitely have them for the November club. As ever, keep checking back or subscribe to the RSS feed to keep up to date with all the club news. If there's anything else you'd like to see (or hear!) at the next night, please let us know.

Photos from HMHB 1 - Saturday 13th September

Here are some photos I took last night (except for the first one, which my sister took).

Playlist from HMHB 1 - Saturday 13th September

Thanks so much to those of you who made it down last night for our first Half My Heart Beats. I'm really pleased with how it went and how many of you turned up, and I hope you had fun too. We'll try to make sure there's a bit more space for you to dance next month - it was a bit cramped last night up on the dancefloor. We played 101 songs in total, so here they are in the order we played them:

Colin
Beat Happening - Our Secret
Felt - Silver Plane
Summer Cats - Discotheque
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - New Year's Kiss
Mexican Kids At Home - Start A One Man Band!
Pete Green - The Ballad of Phil Jevons
The Beach Boys - Don't Worry Baby
The Deirdres - Choose A Partner
All Girl Summer Fun Band - Later Operator
The Halo Benders - Your Asterisk
The Field Mice - September's Not So Far Away

Lynsey
Six Cents + Natalie - Still Maybe
Elephant Parade - Friday Night
Yo La Tengo - You Can Have It All
The Moldy Peaches - Anyone Else But You
Richard Hawley - Born Under A Bad Sign
The Hidden Cameras - Boys of Melody
The Just Joans - What Do We Do Now?
Doris - Did You Give The World Some Love Today?
The Aislers Set - Emotional Levy

Colin
One Happy Island - Temporary Tattoo
Butcher Boy - Arbor Day
Hari and Aino - Seasons
Tales of Jenny - Prague Spring
The Cat's Miaow - Sleepyhead
Architecture in Helsinki - Wishbone
Blueboy - Popkiss
The School - Let It Slip
Those Dancing Days - Hitten
Tullycraft - Georgette Plays A Goth

Lynsey
Taken By Trees - Lost and Found
Mexican Kids At Home - Female Thief
Red Pony Clock - 12-Color Step
Acid House Kings - This Heart Is A Stone
The Lucksmiths - Camera Shy
The Icicles - I Wanna Know
The Shermans - Happy Being Lonely
Sambassadeur - Between The Lines
Free Loan Investments - Kick His Balls Out
Bunnygrunt - Carrie Ann
The Smittens - It's A Saturday
The Concretes - Seems Fine

Colin
The Field Mice - If You Need Someone
Beat Happening - Fortune Cookie Prize
The Smittens - Doomed, Lo-fi and In Love
The Shangri-Las - The Train From Kansas City
Girlfrendo - First Kiss Feelings Vs. Everyday Sensations
Saturday Looks Good To Me - The Americans
Tilly and the Wall - Fell Down The Stairs
The Smiths - Cemetry Gates
Kenickie - Come Out 2Nite

Lynsey
Stars In Coma - I Saw My Heart Passing By
Jonathan Richman - My Baby Love Love Loves Me
Eux Autres - Molly
The Essex Green - The Late Great Cassiopeia
The Magnetic Fields - I Think I Need A New Heart
Slow Club - Because We're Dead
The Supremes - When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes
The Diskettes - Cabin By The Sea
Sweet Things - I'm In A World of Trouble
Tullycraft - Wild Bikini
Speedmarket Avenue - Way Better Now

Colin
Another Sunny Day - What's Happened To You, My Dearest Friend
Pocketbooks - Every Good Time We Ever Had
Eux Autres - The Sundance Kid
The Just Joans - Grant Kelly
Zoey Van Goey - Foxtrot Vandals
Felt - Sunlight Bathed The Golden Glow
The Ballet - Cheating On Your Boyfriend
The Lucksmiths - Smokers In Love

Lynsey
Language of Flowers - If It's Not You
Zipper - Como Un Flash
Helen Love - Beat Him Up
Kenickie - Punka
Lush - Hypocrite
The Vaselines - Son Of A Gun
The Hidden Cameras - Breathe On It
Orange Juice - Blue Boy
Pulp - Do You Remember The First Time?
The Flaming Lips - Race For The Prize
The Go! Team - Bottle Rocket

Colin
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Doing All The Things That Wouldn't Make Your Parents Proud
Heavenly - C Is The Heavenly Option
Jens Lekman - Maple Leaves
Camera Obscura - Number One Son
The Hidden Cameras - Ban Marriage
Talulah Gosh - Talulah Gosh
The Sea Urchins - Pristine Christine
Orange Juice - Felicity
Belle & Sebastian - Dirty Dream no. 2

Lynsey
Irene - Only You
The Four Pennies - When The Boy's Happy (The Girl's Happy Too)
The Aislers Set - The Red Door
The Loves - Boom-A-Bang-Bang-Bang
Lucky Soul - Lips Are Unhappy
Camera Obscura - If Looks Could Kill
The Velvelettes - Needle In A Haystack
Belle & Sebastian - Wrapped Up In Books
Teenage Fanclub - Sparky's Dream
Blondie - Dreaming
The Smittens - Half My Heart Beats

I'll post photos from the night shortly, if I got any good ones!

One day to go!

Well, after months of planning the first Half My Heart Beats is only a day away. That's our last little pile of home-made flyers, which I'll be handing out at The Felt Tips' single launch tonight at Oran Mor. After that, it's just a case of waiting to see who turns up!
Lynsey and I have more or less agreed on what we're going to play, and it's shaping up to be a great night. Remember it's at The Flying Duck, the entrance is now in the lane across from Cineworld rather than on Renfield Street, and we kick off at 10pm sharp!
If you've got any last-minute requests, leave a comment and we'll see if we can squeeze it in.

Posters and whathaveyou

Just thought I'd do a quick post to let you know how things are coming along for the first night. Well, I'm glad to say that I picked up our posters from the print shop this afternoon. I'll be photocopying our DIY flyers tomorrow after work, and tomorrow night will be spent cutting them into neat rectangles. I know how to spend my Friday nights.
Lynsey has been away in Wales being a rock teacher (the stone kind, not the music kind) so I've been scrabbling around at work all week, abusing the printing facilites. In case my boss is reading this, I jest.
I'm starting to get excited about our first night, with it being only a week and two days away. Neither of us have done anything like this before, so I think we're trying to be ultra-prepared and have each got our own provisional playlists drawn up, on spreadsheets no less.
If you get the impression this is kind of an amateurish enterprise, you'd be right. We're just feeling our way at the moment. I don't think either Lynsey or I ever really expected to be putting on our own club night, so it's a bit of a dream come true. We both really want the nights to have a welcoming atmosphere. This is not the kind of club where you have to look a certain way or whatever, we hope none of that comes into it.
Can I post videos here? I don't see why not. I just found this video of The Middle Ones, whom I've been talking up to anyone who'd listen since I saw them at Indietracks earlier in the summer.