New Single - Help Needed!

ONE WEEK TO GO!

Hi Everyone

There's only one week to go before our fab new single 'One More Shot (of you boy)' is released (Monday 1st June). So now we need your help. We have sent copies just about everywhere so we need you to phone, text or email a radio station near you asking them to play it! If you haven't heard us playing it live yet, you can listen to a little burst of it on our myspace page www.myspace.com/stateofundress

We have sent at least one copy (but probably 2 or 3) to each of the following:

Radio 2

Sarah Kennedy; Terry Wogan; Ken Bruce; Jeremy Vine;

Chris Evans; (Chris.evans@bbc.co.uk text 88291) ; Radcliffe and Maconie; Janice Long;

Mike Harding; Steve Lamacq; Alex Lester; Jonathan Ross ...and their producers!

The easiest way to get in touch is via the Radio 2 website, choose your show and then send an email
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/
or send them a text 88291. This text number works for each show.


Regional:

Every presenter on

BBC Radio Solent http://www.bbc.co.uk/hampshire/local_radio/index.shtml . Roger Day's evening programme for Solent also covers Southern Counties, Oxford, Kent and Sussex (Roger.day@bbc.co.uk)


BBC Radio Somerset http://bbc.co.uk/somerset/local_radio
phone-ins 0845 3031566 switchboard 01823 323956
Somerset@bbc.co.uk


BBC Radio Wiltshire http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire e: wiltshire@bbc.co.uk tel: 01793 513626

Wave 105fm http://www.wave105.com Tel: On Air Studio 01489 481052 01489 481060

2CR http://www.2crfm.co.uk/ Studio: 01202 23 4000, Text: 82122, start your message with 2CR

Wessex FM http://wessexfm.com tel studio: 01305 250300 text: 81222 wessex*

Midwest Radio http://midwestradio.co.uk tel studio 01935 848484

Andover Sound http://midwestradio.co.uk tel studio 01264 336000
e:studio@andoversound.com text 60300 start text with andover

Radio Ceredigion (West Wales near Aberystwyth) contact: breakfast show James@ceredigionfm.co.uk and Drivetime marksimon@ceredigionfm.co.uk
Tel: 01970 627999

Radio Maldwyn (covers mid Wales and the Borders) http://www.magic756.net/contact
Email: studio@magic756.net text: 07973537063

Kestrel FM (Basingstoke area) - to presenter Phil Hatto
http://kestrelfm.com tel studio 01256 694040; e: studio@kestrelfm.com
text Kestrel + your message to 87474
Phil does the mid-morning show from 10 - 2.00pm


BBC Radio Cambs and Norfolk - to presenter Sue Marchant . On air every evening Mon-Fri 7pm - 10pm E: sue.marchant@bbc.co.uk; tel 01223 259696 (main)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire/local_radio


BBC Radio Leeds - http://www.bbc.co.uk/leeds/
The Durbervilles (Dave Crickmore) Roots Show On air Sundays 8pm - 9pm;
email presenter Dave Crickmore anytime david.crickmore@bbc.co.uk
on air tel no 0845 033333

BBC Radio Wales The Alan Thompson Evening Show Mon - Thurs 7.00pm - 9.30pm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales
Email anytime eveningshow@bbc.co.uk
on air tel no: 03700 100 110


BBC Radio Wales Frank Hennessy Celtic Heartbeat Saturday evenings email from site http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/celticheartbeat or to frank.hennessy@bbc.co.uk

With all BBC radio stations, the usual format for presenters' email addresses is firstname.surname@bbc.co.uk

Also community stations:

Forest FM http://forestfm.co.uk tel studio 01202 820006 contact@forestfm.co.uk (Verwood, Ringwood)

Hope FM http://hopefm.com tel studio 01202 777321 studio@hopefm.com (Bournemouth)

BRFM (Brynmawr Radio) http://www.brfm.co.uk studio@brfm.co.uk tel studio 01495 313003

Phoenix Radio Calderdale www.phoenixfm.co.uk tel studio 01422 365923

And wherever you are in the world, you can contact and listen in to any of these stations online.

If you can help us in any way by contacting a station near you and / or any of the Radio 2 presenters, that would be brilliant. Hope you are all well and hope to see you at a gig soon.

Warm wishes and big thanks

Charlie

Charlie Rose

State of Undress
www.stateofundress.com www.myspace.com/stateofundress
01425 277462 07971 472768 07988 622398

We're Steaming!

Hi everyone! I'm ashamed to say it's ages since I've written a blog. But it's bank holiday. I've a glass of beer in my hand and just relaxing after a hectic weekend of completely storming gigs. Let's go back a few weeks and start with Swindon. An agent called Statey booked us into a pub in central Swindon, The Rolleston, with a real reputation for its live music and where they really like bands that play their own material. Perfect for us. Well, we had a fab night! Had a brilliant response from the audience. Took all their details for our mailing list and two weeks later when we pitched up at a completely different Swindon venue, The Beehive, a crowd who'd seen us at The Rolleston pitched up too. It was like meeting up with old friends. The Beehive is a wonderful pub - small, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in atmosphere. Once again, we had a fantastic night. The audience listened to every word and every note and once the Shaky eggs came out - well, it was full on party time. We had a great time playing both venues and are looking forward to getting back there in September. Thanks Statey for introducing us to the area! Following on from Swindon, we played a couple of gigs closer to home: The Manor Arms in Burton; then a little festival on beautiful Christchurch Quay - the Riversmeet and Heritage Festival; going on to The Bishops Blaize in Romsey in the evening. All were great - although we were all struggling with colds, coughs and sore throats and by Saturday night in Romsey I was doing a fair impression of Billie Holiday, all sultry and husky - sadly nothing like I normally sound at all! At the Bishops, it was lovely to see Chris and Laura arrive in their fashion-statement 'I've been caught in a State of Undress' tee-shirts. We have to give them a special mention because they got married at Easter and the bride walked into the ceremony to our song 'Spellbound'. What greater accolade could there be? At this point, I do just have to regale you with a tale worthy of a scene from 'Spinal Tap'. We'd arrived home really late but on a high from Swindon. We'd travelled in Malcolm's band bus with all the equipment - PA, speakers, monitors, drums, percussion, everything packed in the back. We decided that as we were gigging close to home the next day, we'd leave all the gear in the van at Malcolm's and he'd drive it to the Manor. So on Friday evening, Malcolm jumps in the vehicle to drive to the gig to get there nice and early to set up. Alan and Keith were there, waiting, and waiting ... finally, a rather flustered, frazzled Malcolm arrived. He'd been half-way to the gig when he realised that he was in his Ford Fiesta and that all the gear was in his Ford Transit .. parked at home! A quick u-turn and a change of transport and we were still ready by 9.00pm!


On Thursday, dosed up with antibiotics, ibuprofen and lots of honey and lemon, the whole band made it to BBC Radio Somerset in Taunton to do an interview and live set for the Emma Britton morning show. We had a great time with her. She played our new single 'One More Shot(of you boy)' due out on 1st June and after a bit of chat we played 'Mudeford Mood' live in the studio. If I say so myself, it sounded pretty damned good! You could just feel the atmosphere in the studio almost crackle. It's a track that will be on our new EP or mini-album 'Livin it, Lovin it!' which will be out in July. We're recording it, in between gigs, at Malcolm's studio 'The G-Spot'. He's doing a brilliant job engineering it. Then on Saturday, we rolled into Yeovil complete with our little caravan to play at The Abbey Hill Steam Fair. We were a little concerned about how we'd be received as we do play mainly our own material with just a few choice covers for good measure. But Colleen, who runs the beer tent at Abbey Hill, booked us saying her punters were after something different. That sounded like us. We started at 8.00pm and finally fell off the stage at 12.15am. What a night! Everyone made us so welcome. We played two really long sets and then a third set of ours and the audience's favourite songs from the evening. It was great. What made it so special too was that it wasn't just our uppy, joyous, foot-tapping stuff that everyone responded to. One man said that he used to know Mudeford really well about 30 years ago and when we played Mudeford Mood it took him right back to that time. When we played 'Plenty More Fish in the Sea' the second time, the audience swayed back and forth like boats on the ocean joining in with the way the band moves. And of course songs like, Country Girl and This Time had everyone dancing and singing along. Sam and Skipper had also written a song 'At The Fair Tonight' about the sights, sounds and characters that make up the Steam Fairs. We did a really, fun, stripped down version with Keith on African Drum and a dazzling Kazoo solo from me. It went down so well that we did it as an encore by special request and everyone joined in the refrain. Sam and Skipper and Alan and I stayed on site that night. Sam and Skip have a vintage 60's Sprite, so they were in with the exhibitors on a proper pitch. We just parked outside the beer tent and stayed there next to a stall which was all locked up for the night. We didn't give much thought to what it was; we were just glad that we didn't have to go far to fall into bed - which we did about 2.45 in the morning. It was warm, snug and cosy in the caravan so we were sure we'd be able to have a good sleep-in. Not a chance! We soon found out what the stall next to us was. At 8.00am we were woken by the cheery tones of the Fair Compere shouting 'Morning Campers and what a lovely day we have ...' and then next door's Hurdy-Gurdy kicked in with 'It's a Long Way to Tipperary' and 'Daisy, Daisy give me an Answer do'. The only answer I could come up with was to make everyone a cup of tea!
So, how could we follow that? A gig at The Cricketers in Wimborne, that's how. We played our socks off and there was a group of young people who were just up for it. They danced, they shook their eggs, bells and tambourines, they joined in our songs - even though for most of them it was the first time they'd heard them. Songs like 'Marylin' they picked up the refrain 'You make me feel like a movie star' straight away. The response was brilliant. And although, music curfew was mid-night, the landlord Andy, with a little encouragement from the audience, let us play a few encores so we finished at quarter past with not a pumpkin in sight!
We do need to say a HUGE THANKYOU to Ian, our sound engineer, for his incredible hard work, commitment, patience and skill in dealing with us all,

Here are just a few comments from our audience over the last few weeks:

'Just to say a big thank you for an excellent gig .. I felt really happy that nite with your beautiful music ringing in my ears' Malcolm, The Beehive

'What a brilliant band. Made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.'
Kev, Abbey Hill Steam Fair
'Uplifting!' Rachel, Swanage

I'm off to watch Ashes to Ashes now - cracking performance from Philip Glenister as Gene Hunt. He could call me Bolly Knickers any time!

Cheers!

Charlie
State of Undress
www.stateofundress.com
www.myspace.com/stateofundress

Look out for our new single 'One More Shot (of you boy)' available as a download from iTunes from 1st June