Soft Hearted Scientists profile picture

Soft Hearted Scientists

David Gray in Guantanamo Bay, Hercules on the dole

About Me

Formed when Nathan and Dylan bumped into each other in a cave while mountaineering in the Himalayas. While drinking a flask of coffee they realised that they were both at a loose end and had a mutual fascination with acoustic guitars and old synthesizers that make bizarre noises, and that it would be cool to try and make music that conveyed even 5% of the feeling you get when you see shooting stars whooshing across a night sky in a distant place far away from home. They finished their coffee, and shook hands on it, then made their way to the nearest ocean on the back of two quite truculent llamas. They then built a replica of a Viking Longship from bamboo canes and banana leaves, and sailed back in the direction of Britain, with destiny in their sights.Unfortunately, various storms and waterspouts blew them off course and it took them 3 years to make it back to Blighty. However, these were not wasted years, for the plucky duo used what instruments they had stockpiled on "Old Dragonface" and whiled away the months honing their sound underneath the stars as they drifted across the oceans of the world.They existed on a diet of whatever food kind mermaids would bring them of an evening. They even married a couple of sister mermaids, in a special sea ceremony, but things didn't work out, leaving them a love lorn pair. "Still", they muttered mournfully, "All fuel for the creative fire".Having spent 3 years at sea, they were a bit grouchy with each other one morning, so Dylan went and sat in the crows nest for peace and quiet. It was at this point that he spotted a dot on the horizon. "Hark! I see something on the horizon" he yelled. After recovering from his irritation and disbelief at this centuries out of date usage of the word "Hark!", Nathan looked out to sea. They steered their mighty vessel towards the dot and lo and behold, it was young Paul Jones from the Welsh Valleys who had been callously thrown overboard from his coracle while fishing for eels for the Cockney market by thieving magpie pirates from Tongwynlais.They hailed him aboard (yes thats right, "Hailed" - got a problem with our nautical sayings?) and after a "hearty" breakfast (OK we admit it, that was going too far - "hearty" is a truly hideous word) he told his sorry tale and said that the coracle fishing business was getting far too risky, but added that he was a dab hand with the 12 string guitar if that was any use to them.After hearing this intriguing piece of new information, Nathan and Dylan walked up and down their vessel, wringing their hands , gesticulating wildly and debating the pros and cons of a new member in loud booming voices like 2 bastard offspring of larger than life thunderclap voiced thespian superham Brian Blessed. Eventually, as a new moon rose they theatrically returned to where young Paul was sitting bemused and offered him a position in their musical concern.Just 2 days later they landed at Southerndown beach, with tears of homecoming joy in their eyes and with destiny still in their sights."Time to take our music to the landlubbers" they shouted and instinctively did a sort of high five style motion with their arms before realising that that's really the sort of dreadful thing that Bon Jovi would do and really wouldn't serve a folk tinged psychedelic outfit at all. Therefore they instead drank a glug of brandy from a giant sea snail shell and whispered "Time do get cracking".“Not so fast!” said a stranger’s voice. “What! By the gods, who dares to interrupt our beachy bonding booze up?” shouted all 3 in unison like something out of a really bad parody of Greek mythology.Well, lo and behold it was “Magic” Mike Bailey, who as destiny would have it, was out collecting driftwood with his legendary whippet “Leaf” by his side.Said he: “ Your pop psych folk prog electronic plans sound intriguing to me but they lack one vital ingredient!” .“And what would that be?” Said the curious 3, admittedly somewhat defensively.“Bass frequencies, for to make the people vibrate and groove. Within my hands lurks the power to carve a groove that makes continents quake! For I am Michael Bailey! ”Said they: “Bloody hell that is impressive! Wanna join us?”Said he: “Of course I bloody do. Why do you think I just spouted all that nonsense?”And lo, 3 did become 4 before the moon had risen.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 2/6/2006
Band Website: softheartedscientists.com
Band Members: Nathan Hall - Vocals, Guitars, Analogues, Organ, Harpsichord, Piano, Kazoo, Fruit Shaped Percussion, Tambourine, Door Stomping, The Northern Lights, Tree Spirits, The Jet Stream, Moonbeams, Coaxing Percussive Purrs from Cats, Crickets Knees, Finger Pops, Face Smacks, Monk Chants, Assorted Noises/Dylan Line - Vocals, Guitars, Analogues, Organ, Piano, Accordian, Bodhran, Omnichord, Massed Impulse Buy Broken Rusty Stringed Autoharp Sympathetic resonance, Percussion, Door Stomping, Finger Pops, Face Smacks, Monk Chants, Assorted Noises/Paul Jones - Vocals, Guitars, Banjo, Mandolin, Keyboards, Percussion, Finger Pops, Face Smacks, Monk Chants, Assorted NoisesMichael Bailey - Bass Guitar and Bazouki, and may be coaxed into doing some backing vocals if asked very very nicely (lots of times)
Influences: Soft Hearted Scientists love the following things and most of them get absorbed into their music: FILMS: Midnight Cowboy, Stand By Me, My Life As A Dog, The Twilight Zone, Twin Peaks TV Pilot, Way Out West, O Brother Where Art Thou, Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, Withnail and I, Hound of the Baskervilles, IT (up to the bit where they reveal the stoopid spider monster - dear Lord what a calamitous let down), The 39 Steps, The Evil Dead, The Evil Dead 2, Forbidden Planet, Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, Biloxi Blues, The Thing (John Carpenter version), The Lady From Shanghai, Citizen Kane, Carry on Camping, Night of the Demon, Night of the Hunter, Airplane, About Schmidt, Easy Rider (despite the crap dialogue), The Wicker Man (But only the re-make! Joke!).TV DRAMA: Rome, 6 Feet Under, Dexter.BOOKS:Trout Fishing in America, Revenge of the Lawn, So the wind won't blow it all away, A Confederate General at Big Sur (Richard Brautigan) Cannery Row, Sweet Thursday, Travels with Charley, Tortilla Flats (John Steinbeck), Big Sur (Jack Kerouac), Under Milk Wood, London (Peter Ayckroyd), Ulysses by James Joyce (65 pages in 5 years!)COMEDY: Alan Partridge, Seinfeld, The Simpsons, Laurel and Hardy, Mighty Boosh, Look Around YouCREATURES: Dogs, Cats, Pigeons (especially wood pigeons), Ducks, Duck Billed Platypuses (or Platypi as Alan might say) Squirrels and Octopi, Giant Clams and Parrots (despite a horrible incident in the East End of London in 1989).PLACES: Coffee Houses, Forests, Gawnant Forest Centre, Bethesda in the summer, Bakewell in Derbyshire, Mountains and Beaches like Llangennith, Newgale Sands and the walk from Llantwit Major to Nash Point on a blue sky day where the rabbits run wild and "the lonely bell rings out for ghosts and me"MUSIC: The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson's "Smile", The Byrds, Country Joe & The Fish, Jefferson Airplane, The Incredible String Band, David Crosby's "If only I could remember my name", Moby Grape, Nuggets (especially "Moulty" by The Barbarians - ludicrous and totally exhilarating), Iron Butterfly, The Rolling Stones up until 1972, Leonard Cohen, Vashti Bunyan, Nick Drake, Kraftwerk, Love, Bob Dylan, Tim Buckley, The Beatles, Josephine Foster, Buffalo Springfield, The Band, Air, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, The Doors, Bwyd Time era Gorkys Zygotic Mynci, Woody Guthrie, Donovan.DISLIKE: Mullets, Big Brother, Sports Bars, Big ugly stadiums in the middle of Cardiff, Billy Ray Cyrus, Overpriced Novelty Irish Cider, Line Dancing, Smug people, Ringtones, British Weather, Vile Boy Bands, Ludicrous Ballroom Dancing Shows, Noel Edmonds' beard, Noel Edmonds' hair, the word "pukka", the word "hearty", positive discrimination in favour of TV voiceover Geordies, and a surly "jobsworth" bus driver we encountered a few months ago (the voodoo doll is coming along nicely).
Sounds Like: An unholy conglomeration of everything they've ever seen, heard, tasted and touched!
Record Label: My Kung Fu
Type of Label: Major

My Blog

Soft Hearted Scientists A470 Song

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=p9xEjJfQ7iY Come take a ride...
Posted by Soft Hearted Scientists on Wed, 09 Jul 2008 04:32:00 PST

Hawthorn music video

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VJjW8f42l1k ...
Posted by Soft Hearted Scientists on Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:36:00 PST

Soft Hearted Scientists - Isabella Video

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gecuZr51jqA ...
Posted by Soft Hearted Scientists on Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:30:00 PST

Two Fifths of a Starfish at Oxwich Bay, May 2008

  2/5 of a Starfish at Oxwich Bay, May 2008 A Rockpool at Oxwich Bay on the Gower Peninsula A Hot Saturday Afternoon in May 2/5 of a seagull eaten starfish Lay in the pool And seemed dormant Und...
Posted by Soft Hearted Scientists on Sat, 05 Jul 2008 01:25:00 PST

SHS Bendy Buses - metaphorically and hopefully literally

.... .. New demos and good lord! So soon afterwards, a new video for second album track "Hawthorn"! What the f**k is going on? (Memo to self: just 2 demos and 1 video. Calm down. You're embarrassin...
Posted by Soft Hearted Scientists on Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:21:00 PST

Scarecrows and Spare Rooms

Hello there. Summer's a coming so here's a couple of lovingly home baked demos for you. Scarecrow Smiles is based on a true story. So is Mountain Delight. Nobody who enters "the spare room of doom" is...
Posted by Soft Hearted Scientists on Sun, 29 Jun 2008 06:03:00 PST

Tonight I’m Going To Party Like It’s 1929

New demos on the way - 1)"The Upward Spiral" and 2)"The Trees Don't Seem To Know That It's September". The first song is a lysergic lovesick mantra and the second song could echo around the Overlook ...
Posted by Soft Hearted Scientists on Thu, 14 Feb 2008 08:00:00 PST

Stand By Me

Just re-read "The Body" by Stephen King . I'm not a great fan of his horror writing, but this novella is astounding. As is the film "Stand By Me" based on it. The ending is as gutting as the end of Mi...
Posted by Soft Hearted Scientists on Sun, 03 Feb 2008 08:22:00 PST

Catch the Pigeon

My ambitions in the new year are a)To make an album so good the earth spins off its axis, but in a good way b)To perfect my lightning bolt throwing powers to rid the world of evil  - and hopefull...
Posted by Soft Hearted Scientists on Tue, 18 Dec 2007 05:29:00 PST

Surf Songs, Angel Songs, West Wales Odyssey Songs

Why ayeJust noticed you can plonk 6 songs on myspace now ! When did that happen? I've been offline too long. Anyway theres 3 new demos for them what want 'em. Surferella fulfils my 13 year ambition to...
Posted by Soft Hearted Scientists on Sat, 17 Nov 2007 07:50:00 PST