SHOT BY BOTH SIDES

Music:

Member Since: 07/05/2007
Band Website: www.shotbybothsides.info
Band Members: CHRIS LEVER

(+ DAN TURNER)

Influences: After a couple of years of putting on shows in Durham under the guise of our university Rock Music Society (Howards Alias, Captain Everything, Adequate 7, The Foamers, The Mingers, John Holmes, The Filaments, Grogan, etc) and a year of putting on more diverse shows under the name of Shot By Both Sides (Spookey, Random Heroes, Tendrils, Dancing on the Doctor, Grogan, Diablo 66, Speeding Bee, The Velterelles, Penny Broadhurst, Japan for Sega, Horaay! Say the Roses, etc) I've decided to make Shot By Both Sides a more regular affair. I have also written extensively for the staple UK zine Last Hours (previously Rancid News), write my own zine Lipgloss, played an integral role in organising all three London Zine Symposiums to date, and was the only male on the Ladyfest Newcastle 2007 organisation team, all of which have put me in good stead for putting on DIY events with a high level of drive and organisation.
In the past I have always endeavoured to provide a little 'something extra' with Shot By Both Sides gigs: band members have DJ'ed late into the night for us, party games have been oraginsed, and a punk rock colouring-in competition at the Spookey gig once led to me being called an 'evil genius' by the band's tour manager when he was greeted by a room of kids dilligently crayoning away in-between bands. I have also secured the Fishtank as a permanent venue, which is great! It has a nice new in-house PA, cheap bar and great atmosphere. I'd like to continue this ethos and will be creating a website, myspace, monthly zine to promote the bands playing and taking to the streets of Durham with my new staple-gun to provide an even better level of advertising I have given any of my shows to date, and would very much like for you to share in Shot By Both Side's future.
The city of Durham, with a rapidly-growing local scene and a 20,000 strong floating student population is often overlooked by most bands on the UK circuit. This too is something I am looking to change. Our general attitude to shows is as follows: we tend to not offer monetary guarantees to play (unless they're £70 or less), but will guarantee you, a place to stay (in our cosy mod-con flat, with secure off-street parking for your transport), good food and drink, and a great time on the road (you haven't lived until you've played 'Dream Phone' at ours after a gig!). We'll also split all money we take on the door between bands - depending on how far they've travelled - and don't make deductions for printing and food costs (I'll happily cover these losses myself). Door prices are cheap, often based on the £1-per-band model I observed as a kid on the Ipswich punk scene. It's worked very well in the past, and if you're sensitive to this way of doing things we'd love for you to come and play. Ultimately, I take more enoyment in bands leaving with lasting memories of a great time in Durham than a big wad of cash, and hope you feel the same way too.
If you are interested in playing a forthcoming show in Durham, do get in touch.
xChris

Thanks to everyone who entered the SPOOKEY CAT colouring-in competition, I've posted all the entries we received below for your continued enjoyment.

Congratulations to the winners!

Review in Durham 21 by CHRIS PRIOR

"SHOULD EVERYONE CARE ABOUT YOUR NEW NIGHT?

While the conflation of historical rhetoric and modern reality tends to be a dangerous business, the claim made by Harold Macmillan in 1957 that we have ‘never had it so good’ is, at long last, apposite when it comes to the modern music scene in our city. After the end of Paste and other decent nights in a steam-driven Durham of long ago, with the recent coming to prominence of events such as Beat Surrender, Full Collapse, and No One Cares About Your DJ Night, and the bigger, less specialist world of Tuesday night in Studio, alongside the continued success of Ic(h)Bin, the alternative music fan now has more doing than he or she can shake an immaculately sculpted fringe at. So, what to say to Shot By Both Sides, a new night courtesy of omnipresent alternative boys Chris Lever and Dan Turner, which added its cocky little voice to the noisy multitude at the Fishtank last Saturday?
DANCING ON THE DOCTOR'S ORDERS

The signs were good by the very choice of venue. The Fishtank is a brilliant little place, small and run by friendly people who sell you drinks in cans, and, if nothing else, it’s a matter of no little importance that places like this successfully exist in the face of bars that pose as authentically Antipodean, despite their celebration of Aboriginal art flying in the face of the reality of a segregated Down Under. The venue’s celebration of difference was compounded by Shot By Both Sides. First up at was Dancing On The Doctor, the work of Durham student Ollie Powell. The majority of DOTD’s set consisted of a solitary Powell on guitar playing along to a pre-recorded backing track. Some of the moments were so charming that it would be interesting to see if they could be replicated by a whole band to give it a fuller and more responsive feel onstage. However, the most interesting piece of the set took the nature of being a single person onstage and turned this into a positive boon. Here, Powell sampled himself as he played to create increasingly complex loops of rhythm and melody, firstly slapping strings to establish a rudimentary drumbeat before going on to pluck cascading arpeggios that spiralled onward. This all had the effect of creating a beautiful little post-rock world that most seemed rather sad to have to leave. A few more shows, a little more confidence and Dancing On The Doctor’s going to be a joy to behold.
LOTS OF BASHING

Headliners The Tendrils were far removed from this pretty little world. Theirs is a sound that relies on the same sort of punk-ish attack as Mclusky, and this is a thing their parents should be proud of. The frontman and guitarist (who goes by the name of Euro Disney, if their wonderfully spurious Myspace descriptions are anything to go by) thrashes himself about the stage like he’s engaged in all sorts of demonic kerfuffle. The rhythm section seem happy to play second fiddle to this, concentrating on playing and looking like extras in a metal video. From a niftly little instrumental start to the set, things became monotonous and a little predictable in the middle, but it all swelled to a truly impressive ending, a deftly organised clatter of thunking bass, crashing cymbals and appropriately squealing feedback. With a handsome little chaos of a conclusion to the evening, The Tendrils made it two highly enjoyable acts out of two, while Shot By Both Sides more than justified its place in a packed indie calendar."

PREVIOUS 'ROCK SOC.' GIGS

Sounds Like: ***

BETA 1
SAT.25.FEB.2006
TENDRILS
DANCING.ON.THE.DOCTOR
FISHTANK.DURHAM

***

BETA 2
THU.27.APR.2006
SPOOKEY
RANDOM HEROES
FISHTANK.DURHAM

***

BETA 3
SAT.17.JUN.2006
LADYFEST NEWCASTLE BENEFIT
THE VELTERELLES
PENNY BROADHURST
JAPAN FOR SEGA
DJ DANIELLE VELTERELLE
DJ TRUDIE BLACK RABBIT
FISHTANK.DURHAM

***

BETA 4
TUE.25.JUL.2006
GROGAN
SPEEDING BEE
DIABLO 66
JAPAN FOR SEGA
FISHTANK.DURHAM

***

BETA 5
FRI.OCT.6.2006
MEGA HOUSE PARTY!
w/ HOORAY! SAY THE ROSES
DANCING ON THE DOCTOR
SECRET.VENUE

***

OUT OF BETA 6
THU.MAY.10.2007
GROGAN
ONE NIGHT STAND IN NORTH DAKOTA
THE GAFFERTONES
TELEGRAPH.NEWCASTLE

***

OUT OF BETA 7
TUE.JUL.17.2007
JONNY ONE LUNG
JIM SORROW
ONE NIGHT STAND IN NORTH DAKOTA
HIGH RISK EXISTENCE
UKULELE BOMB
BAR19.DURHAM

***

OUT OF BETA 8
SAT.JUL.28.2007
FLICK KNIVES & SPLINTERS
TV PARTY
LOS MENDOZAS
DIABLO 66
FISHTANK.DURHAM

***

OUT OF BETA 9
SAT.AUG.11.2007
TBC
TBC
TBC
FISHTANK.DURHAM

***

Record Label: Pink Rizla
Type of Label: Indie