The Exploits of Elaine profile picture

The Exploits of Elaine

Free tEoE: http://myformicatable.blogspot.com/

About Me


Five young men from Nottingham and Leeds- occasionally joined by friends from elsewhere- who make music wot is good.
What with the recent spate of interest in ‘free folk’ music, The Exploits of Elaine will probably engender comparisons with Sunburned Hand of the Man, No-Neck Blues Band and their contemporaries. In my mind there’s a clear distinction between the faux-naivety often employed by these bands and the Exploits’ more considered absorption of indigenous folk idioms., or so said drownedinsound.com
...the dynamics are fluid seemingly terra-forming throughout sometimes revealing delicately woven drone mantras and others a curious shanty like presence., or so said losingtoday.com
offbeat string scratches and cathartic, distorted blues guitar loops, which creates a deeply unsettling and intruding feeling. Think of Set Fire to Flames at its most ethereal, and you’re on the right lines., or so said thesilentballet.com

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 2/2/2005
Band Website: This is it, for now.
Band Members: Any combinaton of...
David Bell
Patrick Farmer
Graham Jones
Michael Jones
Stuart Sutherland

Past members (and we may well see them again): Alex Plim, James Lloyd & Andrew Meeson.

Instruments utilised: guitar, chord organ, jew's harp, bass, violin, percussion, zither, synth, melodica, mandolin, glockenspiel, banjo, trumpet, wok, amplified objects, voice & computer.

In addition to The Exploits of Elaine, members have (or may still) play/record as...

...for those that shall not speak (Stuart)
Monorails for Codsall (David)
The Good Anna (Graham & Patrick)
Ebenezer & The Scrooges (Graham & David)
Love As Light (Stuart)
The Calatalee Sisters (David)
Jones of Colorado (David)
Designer Babies, Last of the Real Hardmen, Strap the Button, Cars, The Family Elan, The Birmingham Improvisers' Orchestra & God Knows Who Else...(Patch)
Influences: "Nor must mention be omitted of old Isaac Sly, a half-witted labouring fellow with a squint in one eye and blind of the other, who at first sight might appear a bad man to meet on a dark night, but is harmless enough when you know him; he haunts the lanes at certain seasons of the year, carrying an enormous flag, and invariably greets you with the intelligence that he will bring the flag up next Christmas the same as usual, according to time-honoured custom. He is the last vestige of the old wandering minstrels of bygone days, playing his inharmonious concertina in the hall of the manor house regularly at Christmas and at other festivals."

'A Costwald Village'- J.Arthur Gibbs
Sounds Like: Tour '07 CD-R
Five tracks of clatter and hope. Zither, banjo, guitars, violin, wok and more. Occasionally cathartic and with a mysticism all of its own.

Railway Spine
Three tracks of improvised music inspired by those who've worked on Britain's railways. For a large part the music is onomatopoeic: clanging, clunking, relentless chugging, but through a layer of hum and fuzz-sweaty ghosts echoing through to us after all these years. 30 CD-R copies made attached to a 1970s Railway Magazine, now available for free download from myformicatable.blogspot.com

Record Label: Good Name for a Racehorse/Loom/My Formica Table
Type of Label: Major

My Blog

Exploits related band The Amber Sleep first gig, Leeds Tuesday May 13th + more

Allo My new thing The Amber Sleep is making its debut full band performance next week. There are 9 of us, we have woodwind and string sections, and YE GODS, there is singing. www.myspace.com...
Posted by The Exploits of Elaine on Wed, 07 May 2008 09:28:00 PST

Out of Hibernation

..> Gig With Epic45 & more... Hey all,We hope this finds in you in good spirits and good health, and leaves you in an even finer mood. For we bring to you tidings of our imminent return to 't...
Posted by The Exploits of Elaine on Sat, 22 Sep 2007 06:21:00 PST

Gig. Nottingham. Soon.

Hello you.This is our first gig after our tour. We'll have a new track or two but will be recycling the same old jokes.God's Golden Sperm presents...RACCOO-OO-OON (USA - TIME LAG RECORDS)Hailing from ...
Posted by The Exploits of Elaine on Fri, 09 Mar 2007 12:53:00 PST

Review of Split CD-R

Losing Today have reviewed the tour split CD-R we did with Glissando, and were most kind about it. Though they need to brush up on their Shakespeare...The Exploits of Elaine / Glissando 'Split' (Loom)...
Posted by The Exploits of Elaine on Thu, 15 Feb 2007 04:24:00 PST

Tour Diary Pt.2

Apologies for the lack of bold here. You'll just have to read it all, won't ya?...The journey from London to Welwyn Garden City is pretty straightforward. Ellie demands to hear some early tEoE stuff, ...
Posted by The Exploits of Elaine on Fri, 09 Feb 2007 04:48:00 PST

Tour Diary Pt.1

The first part of our tour diary, with a full discography of tour listening& MONDAY night's our NOTTINGHAM SHOW at Lee Rosy's Tea Room and we have great fun. Dave's particularly stressed early on ...
Posted by The Exploits of Elaine on Tue, 06 Feb 2007 07:30:00 PST

Don't Look Back In Anger

To celebrate (!) the imminent release of 'Horseplay' (a compilation comprising our first three EPs), we've just put an old old track up. It's called 'Scotland Yard' and is originally from 2003's 'Happ...
Posted by The Exploits of Elaine on Wed, 24 Jan 2007 10:50:00 PST

Threnody for John Axon

G'day,We've put up a track from our 'Railway Spine' tour CD-R. It's called 'Threnody for John Axon' and is named in honour of engine driver John Axon, who stayed with his runaway train to prevent loss...
Posted by The Exploits of Elaine on Sun, 21 Jan 2007 06:49:00 PST

And then there were 5 (again)!

We're pleased to announce that Mr Patrick Farmer will be joining us on our tour (and in future) with his trusty banjo.Patch is known to many from his work in The Good Anna (with Graham), Last of the R...
Posted by The Exploits of Elaine on Tue, 09 Jan 2007 06:17:00 PST

New Sounds Up Here Now.

You'd probably noticed by now, but what the heck.There are two new tracks on this here space. There's a newer and much much much (much) better version of Spores, and an as-yet unamed semi-improvised t...
Posted by The Exploits of Elaine on Mon, 18 Dec 2006 08:42:00 PST