That Nightmare before Christmas

So thank you all those dear dear people who came to Tinseltown on Friday nite and shook their complimentary sleigh-bells. Thank you to The Schla La Las for glamour beyond the call of duty with their Marilyn dresses, and especially for “I’m going back to Germany to stuff my face”. Thank you Feline1 for sound-tracking the evening with a sprinkling of audio delights and curiosities (for full setlist see comments to previous post). Thank you to the glamorous Miss Sell on projections and driving duties. Thank you Mister Bobby Laws for lending us yr drum-kit, which took us about an hour to dismantle (in our world, all drum-kits come in little boxes, with LED lights!). Thank you Miss Christina for welcoming our guests, and taking their hard-earned spends in exchange for entertainment and merchandise. Thank you the Freebutt staff for not locking us in as we tried desperately to dismantle that drum-kit. Thank you anyone who helped tidy up by taking home a piece of the over-the-top lo-fi decor we plastered across every surface of the venue. And finally, thank you everyone for bearing with us through the, er, technical difficulties. We’d like to think you now know a little too much about Sarah Pain than you ought to, following her stream of consciousness/ad-libing, during those painful moments that had Dom Pain desperately scrabbling around un-plugging and plugging in to get things working again.

We made it through in the end, and came out with sleigh-bells ringing in our ears and an abiding memory from every time we looked up and were met with a sea of gob-smacked faces. It looked a little like this:

but obviously on a slightly different scale.

And so to bed...
love from the Miss Pain three
xxx

ps For Christmas Dom Pain would like: a new guitar amp, new leads and pedals, so that he may never have those problems again.
pps He’d also like an Eowave Persephone in red snake-skin vinyl finish. mmmmmmmm.

>>>WELCOME TO TINSELTOWN>>>

Greetings Pain-sters and Pain-ettes.

We bring you good tidings and exciting news for your final appointment
with Pain for 2005.

This Friday sees our intrepid synth-abusers making a welcome return to
home-turf, for one of their full-on, no-holds-barred,
live-art-action-cabaret-experiences (and that's one hell of a lot of
hyphens!).

As I type, Miss Pain HQ is a-buzz with preparations to make this one,
their first since June, a veritable extravaganza of joyous pop noise,
good old-fashioned glamour, and glittering visual hysteria.

They promise to bring a touch of Hollywood sparkle to the
spit-and-sawdust surrounds of the Freebutt.

FRI 09 DEC 2005
Miss Pain presents Welcome to Tinseltown
a Live Revue featuring performances from
Miss Pain + The Schla La Las
The Freebutt, Phoenix Place, Brighton
doors: 8pm
entry: £4/£3 mit flyer


The Miss Pain three will be all made-up, intense and smoldering, as
they take the stage and let loose their b-movie sounds. With an air of
doomed romance, they'll thrash out those winter blues the only way
they know how: pure screen-dream decadence, 50's beat innocence, and
eerie electronic melodies.

But that's not all… Miss Pain have invited the delectably dangerous
Schla La Las down from London. These sassy starlets will give you a
dose of their sweet-but-deadly girl-group medicine, laced with surf
guitar, and a nod to Thee Headcoatees'-sense of post-punk F.U.N.

Plus! Intermission entertainments and frivolity comes courtesy of
recently appointed Pain live-controller Feline1, with his miniature
mp3 jukebox, as well as a few picks from the Pain's own hit parade.


All that's left to say is: DON'T MISS THIS: we probably won't be
playing Brighton again 'til next March. But don't fear, we'll be in
touch very soon with news of our dashing new website and a few
Pain-style Xmas present ideas.

Keep it Pain-ful
Sarah, Verity & Dom Pain
xxx

>>>LONDON LIVE ACTION>>>

Hello Hello

This week, for you pleasure and delight, Miss Pain will be causing a scene in North London, dressed in their finest and pushing their faithful noise machines to their upper limits.

THU 01 DEC - LONDON
The Black Tulips + Miss Pain + The Weather Underground + Charles Campbell-Jones
Ryan's Bar, 181 Stoke Newington Church St, N16 0UL [MAP]
Nearest Tube: Manor House; Nearest Rail: Stoke Newington
doors: 8pm
entry: £4/£3 with flyer/Artrocker card

Gasp as they shake and scream. Feel giddy as they pout and preen. And marvel as the Pains crash their way through a full-on assault of twisted electro-shock pop and ultra-vivid visual stimuli.

But it’s not just a chance to top up yr tinnitus, cos we’ll have a feast of brand new merchandise on sale, including Handbags, Ties, Keyrings, Badges, as well as our two singles, of which the first one is very very nearly sold-out (could be your last chance!).

oh, and before we go, don’t forget:

FRI 09 DEC - BRIGHTON
Welcome to Tinseltown
Miss Pain + The Schla La Las
The Freebutt, Phoenix Place, Brighton
doors 8pm entry £4/£3 mit flyer


More on that next time.

Keep it pain-ful
love
Miss Pain
xxx

>>>Vive Le Weekend>>>

Greetings Pain-fans,
Following our jaunt Up North, we three Pains are back home and play live in London and Brighton at the beginning of next month (look to the right for details).

Meanwhile, this weekend, for your listening pleasure:

SAT 19 NOV - BRIGHTON
L'Amour Electronique
Miss Pain DJ's play Synth Pop, French Pop, Electro Pop
The Penthouse, upstairs at The Freebutt, Brighton
doors: 8pm - late
entry: free

Once again, we take over The Penthouse, for a refreshing blast of synth pop, French pop and electro pop for all you robots, bar-flies, Francophiles, and everyone else. From Serge Gainsbourg to Giorgio Moroder, France Gall to Fad Gadget, Jacques Dutronc to John Foxx, Francoise Hardy to The Human League, via Stereo Total, Miss Kittin, Cobra Killer, Ye-Ye, Nouveau Rock’n’Roll Francais, etcetera.

Plus! The usual excess of decorations and embellishments to come crashing down around you, with special guest confidante The Mac Classic, and the ever-glamorous Mlle Sell providing translation services and secretarial support.

O T H E R N E W S....................................................

M I C E B A S E

Yes, we have succumbed to the latest fads and trends and are now collecting friends on MySpace. Go to www.myspace.com/vivamisspain, and you can see our dashing ‘Caught My Eye’ video, steal our friends, and even add us as a friend. (We’ll be adding more stuff soon, so keep an eye out.)


R O A D T R I P

We’d like to thank everyone who came to see us make a spectacle of ourselves in Winchester and Manchester. Much fun was had, and we ran ourselves ragged... There are selected photos of the latter here: T R E V I R A (thanx Sarah N).

Apologies to all who turned up to see some Pain action in Leeds – owing to matters completely out of our control, and some exceptionally useless/unhelpful persons, the gig didn’t go ahead. This was despite us having driven 250 miles, having all the equipment we needed, and having a professional sound-engineer on-hand. Bunch of C***S, pretty much sums that one up. And we don’t use the C word lightly!!

We’ll no doubt post the full story on this here Blog when we have the time.

D E C E M B E R L I V E A C T I O N

We have 2 tantalisng shows on the cards for December, take a look at the top of the column to the right of this message, and then go scrawl them in yr diaries.

These will be our last 2 shows of the year, and there’s nowt booked until March next year at the moment, so don’t miss ‘em.

Love + Pain
Sarah, Verity & Dom
xxx

WINCHESTER, LEEDS, MANCHESTER, LONDON

Greetings Pain-fans – Oh! My! We are busy busy Pains this month...
The Miss Pain three and their arsenal of battered noise-machines make a handful of hit’n’run assaults on towns that are possibly near YOU!

Tell all your friends to catch a dose of the Pain: guaranteed fun and excitement for all the family.

FRI 04 NOV - WINCHESTER
The sinistry of mound presents.... THIS IS GIRL-CORE
The Stem Project + Miss Pain + 7 girl Deejay action
The Railway Inn, 3 St Pauls Hill [MAP]
doors: 8pm (MISS PAIN ONSTAGE: 9.20pm)
entry: £3/£2 concs

WED 09 NOV - LEEDS
Miss Pain + more TBC
The Vine, 11 The Headrow [MAP]
doors: 8pm (MISS PAIN ONSTAGE: 9.15pm)
entry: £4

FRI 11 NOV - MANCHESTER
Indra + Miss Pain + Shmoo + Moth Hi-Fi + Error-plains
Night and Day, 26 Oldham Street [MAP]
doors: 8pm - 2am (MISS PAIN ONSTAGE: 10.30pm)
entry: £6/£5 mit flyer


I M P O R T A N T... R E A D T H I S:
The Miss Pain three are available to play for YOU on THU 10 NOV, so if you live anywhere near Leeds or Manchester and want some Miss Pain Live Action in your house/venue/garage, just drop us a line: thempains@misspain.co.uk, and we shall endeavour to be there.

What you can expect: glamour and noise, electro-shock pop, sordid duets, cuts and bruises, an air-strike of visual stimuli, and a hail of analogue sparks.
PLUS! There’ll be all-new Miss Pain memorabilia on sale:
TIES...HANDBAGS...KEYRINGS...BADGES...RECORDS...YAY!

For a different point of view, some of you might like to take a look at:
http://www.planbmag.com/content/view/336/40/
and
http://www.tomvincent.co.uk/bandlist.php?ID=90
and
http://www.fresh01.com/club/memory/sept15/miss/index.htm
and
http://www.theinternationalhouseofpussy.co.uk/

Your future appointments with Pain:

SAT 19 NOV - BRIGHTON
L'Amour Electronique
Miss Pain DJ's play Synth Pop, French Pop, Electro Pop
The Penthouse, upstairs at The Freebutt, Brighton
doors: 8pm
entry: free

THU 01 DEC - LONDON
Rock Night Satellite 6
The Black Tulips + Miss Pain + Sunny Day Sets Fire + Charles Campbell-Jones
Ryan's Bar, 181 Stoke Newington Church St, N16 0UL [MAP]
Nearest Tube: Manor House; Nearest Rail: Stoke Newington
doors: 8pm
entry: £4/3 with flyer/Artrocker card


Check back for more gossip from the world of Pain
Oooh!

And remember if you do come and see us, don’t be shy, come and say hello, we don’t bite.
keep it Pain-ful
love Miss Pain
xxx

Littler Miss Pain...

I've just spent a lovely evening with my Sis...the littler Miss Pain. (Well she's actually taller, but never mind.) We drank lots of cheap red wine and ate creme brulee...hurray!
Love Sarah xx

The Curse of the Wig-Hat

Hey Phil, what's that on your Dome?
Mr Spector (slave to his Wig-glue) in court....
Do you think maybe he's trying for diminished responsibility?

Something for the Weekend

Hey!

Firstly, may we point you to the column on the right of your screens, for Miss Pain is taking to the road this November for a handful of live assaults on selected cities.

We're up for some more, so if anyone can put us on near to any of these locations/dates, please get in touch ASAP [email: painforhire@misspain.co.uk]. We're serious about this, anywhere near Leeds and Manchester on Thu 10th, or the following weekend; also anywhere down south following the Winchester date- GET IN TOUCH.

Vive Le Weekend, 'tis less than an hour away for those of us in 9-5.30 limbo.
If you can make it to Brighton this weekend, we urge you to go:
some Ladyfest events
including the Art exhibition, which Sarah Pain has some frightening-scatalogical-insight-into-her-psyche work on display;
also our dear friend Alison 'Baby Donut' Wolfe is playing with her new band Partyline tonite at the Core Club;
and on Sunday our ace friends Smarty Pants play the Candy Bar.
[there's tons more stuff too, so check the website: www.ladyfestbrighton.co.uk

Also Tonite
Plan B presents Kevin Blechdom, Printed Circuit and Simon Bookish at Hanbury Ballroom

And Another Thing
There are some dashing photos of Miss Pain from their gig at Audio t'other week, just over here...

And if you go to the Ladyfest exhibition, remember to get yr free badge from Sarah's exhibit


Gotta go.
Mister Pain
xxx

it's Miss Pain day

Hey-ho Pain-fans,

We thought you might like to know it is Miss Sarah Pain's birthday today,. and we hope you'll join us in wishing her many happy returns, perhaps by leaving a comment on this here blog thing. Or, if you would like to wish her a happy birthday in person, she will be DJ'ing at Union on Brighton seafront tonite from 10pm [expect to hear the following songs at least once: Altered Images - 'Happy Birthday'; Bryan Ferry - 'It's My Party'; Blondie - '(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presents, Dear'. Sorry there was no need for that....].

If you can't make it tonite, Sarah will be celebrating again on Friday:
When I Plugged Her In She Just Blew Up, The Penthouse, above The Freebutt, from 8pm

and again with her fellow Pains at:


SATURDAY 15 OCTOBER
L’Amour Electronique
Miss Pain DJ’s play Synth Pop, French Pop, Electro Pop
The Penthouse, upstairs at The Freebutt, Brighton
8pm – 11pm
entry: freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Thanks to everyone who came and screamed their lungs out at Audio last Friday – that was something special. Hysteria is a good thing, even if we couldn’t hear ourselves above it half the time...

Here’s a few choice quotes that have come to our attention:

“sheer, effervescent fun and frivolity...”

“I have ears raped by them twice...”

“Miss Pain gave me a hard-on and a warm feeling in my bum.”

The scene: setting up the Miss Pain arsenal at Audio, 07.10.05.
them: “That was fucking shit... You’re the worst band I’ve ever seen.”
us: “But we haven’t played yet”
them: “Well you’re still fucking shit...” (skulks off muttering to self)

"...how do they cope with walking about in their normal clothes?"

Still inspiring love and hate, as you can see...

Don’t forget to feed us back with your comments and birthday wishes.
Merci bien
Abientôt
Miss Pain
xxx

SSSSHH! FREE ENTRY A GO-GO

And lo! The Miss Pain arsenal rolled into action.

Yes, we are pleased to report that the Miss Pain three will be appearing on stage in public causing a scene at no less than 3 happenings.

1. is TOP SECRET and INVITE ONLY, and will involve frightening some poor unsuspecting wedding guests. Again.

2. is FREE ENTRY as follows:
Friday 7th October
BRIGHTON LIVE
Miss Pain + Coin-Op + Shrag
Audio, 10 Marine Parade, Brighton
Doors: 19.30
Entry: FREEEEEEEEEEEE

The Brighton Live organisers have asked Miss Pain to curate a show as part of the week long live music crawl.
Miss Pain : 2 girl/1 boy electro-shock pop
Coin-Op : Synthesized prog-punk mayhem
Shrag : Spiky, shouty art-school kraut-pop

3. is also FREE ENTRY and will feature them Pains duelling on the wheels o’ steel, Oh Yes!
SATURDAY 15 OCTOBER
L’Amour Electronique
Miss Pain DJ’s play Synth Pop, French Pop, Electro Pop
The Penthouse, upstairs at The Freebutt, Brighton
8pm – 11pm
entry: freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

from naughty Serge to Soft Cell, via Stereo Total and Cobra Killer. Neil Tennant-PetShopBoy turned up last time to find us rolling drunk, and he apparently approved of what he saw and heard...

Other exciting news:
1. It seems we neglected to arrange a fanfare to let you all know about the dashing video for ‘Caught My Eye’, directed by the terribly talented Rupert Noble. You can watch it at his site [also available at VidZone, between Mis-Teeq and Missy Elliott].

2. Miss Pain have been busy working behind the scenes at Miss Pain HQ, where they have just recorded their kick-ass brand new song ‘Sell it 2 the Kids’. This was immediately sent by carriage pigeon to a member of Chicks on Speed in Barcelona, and will hopefully be the Pains’ contribution to the forthcoming CoS compilation ‘Girl-Monster’. The pigeon has not yet returned.

3. Dom Pain has begun the arduous task of overhauling the Miss Pain website, so it will look ravishing, sparkly and new. It is planned to feature a whole avalanche of hitherto untapped material from the Miss Pain archive. Prepare to be astounded.

4. Sarah Pain recently took her pet rat to the vets to get her fixed. Sarah’s rat is called Ann, and is named after she of Add N to (X) who has chosen F*Machines to appear on her new compilation ‘The Electronic Bible 2’ (to be released shortly). Sarah has another rat called Ivy (as in Poison Ivy). Ivy has red eyes, but is not sickly and shaved like poor Ann.

5. Verity Pain has given up full-time employment to study Cold War design in order to become Dr Pain. She will be hanging out at the V&A museum in London talking about Sputniks and Eastern bloc chic.

6. Dom Pain is still reluctantly in almost-full-time employment. The struggle continues to free the Miss Pain one.

7. Sarah Pain continues to DJ across Brighton, rumour is she has been cloned in order to appear in more than one place at once. Unfortunately this has lead to her spending all the money she earns on duplicating her record collection.

8. The original Sarah Pain will appear at the Sidewinder pub, Upper St. James Street, Kemptown tonite (30.09.05), and will be playing her ALL-TIME TOP 100 records. Come and watch her get misty-eyed over David Byrne and Bryan Ferry, and prepare to be shocked.

For more regular and frivolous flashes of news/nonsense, please come back regularly:
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!

that is all for now
keep it pain-ful
love Miss Pain
xxx

Poor Little Ann...

My little ratty Ann is in hospital today. I named her after Ann Shenton from add n to (x). She's gotta have an operation, but i think she is going to be ok. When i walked home from the vets i saw millions of tiny baby snails and that cheered me up.

love Sarah xx

.........STOP PRESS.........

Unfortunately L'Amour Electronique will not be happening on Sep 17th, as the venue has managed to double-book the date (despite the fact that we've had it booked for, oh, about a year!).

So if anyone wants us to come and play French pop and electro at their house, drop us a line at naughtyserge@misspain.co.uk

the Brixton Windmill gig is still happening.
THURSDAY 15 SEPTEMBER – LONDON
Club Hemisphere presents
Gary Le Strange + Miss Pain + Napoleon III
The Windmill, Blenheim Gardens, Brixton, SW2 5BZ [map]
Doors: 8pm (Miss Pain onstage 9.15pm)
Entry: £3 [buy tickets]

cheers
Them Pains
xxx

NEWSFLASH>>>L'AMOUR LE STRANGE

Hey-ho Pain-fans!
Yr one and only 2 girl/1 boy electro-shock pop-ists are priming their machines for another marvel of glamour, sleaze and synthetic noise.

THURSDAY 15 SEPTEMBER – LONDON
Club Hemisphere presents
Gary Le Strange + Miss Pain + Napoleon III
The Windmill, Blenheim Gardens, Brixton, SW2 5BZ [map]
Doors: 8pm (Miss Pain onstage 9.15pm)
Entry: £3 [buy tickets]

Come witness an explosion of filthy synthcore, frantic rhythm, and air-strike visual stimuli. Get in shape with Miss Pain’s ‘Werkout’, then jerk and holler to their new dance craze - ‘The Clap’, and a handful of other short, sharp shocks.

This is the Pain’s first London show since what seems like forever, so no excuses, please. You ain’t gonna turn into a pumpkin if you’re south of the river on a school night (at least that’s what we’ve been told).

Gary Le Strange, self proclaimed 'neo-regency face warrior' and 'bionic lord of pop', headlines. Song titles like 'Is My Toaster Sentient?’ and ‘Sex Dummy’, a voice like Bowie and countless costume changes to take you back to the futurism that was 1981. Support comes from Napoleon III – Lo-fi space folk made with car boot sale junk, and a home wired guitar.

This is followed closely by:



SATURDAY 17 SEPTEMBER - BRIGHTON
***postponed due to double-booking***
L'Amour Electronique
Miss Pain DJ's play Synth Pop, French Pop, Electro Pop
The Penthouse, upstairs at The Freebutt, Brighton
doors: 8pm
entry: freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Neil Tennant turned up at the last one, and we were all so drunk we don’t remember packing up. So it must have been good.

Expect the usual heady cocktail of synth pop, French pop and electro pop for robots, bar-flies and francophiles. Serge Gainsbourg to Giorgio Moroder, France Gall to Fad Gadget, Jacques Dutronc to John Foxx, Francoise Hardy to The Human League, via Stereo Total, Miss Kittin, Cobra Killer, Ye-Ye, Nouveau Rock’n’Roll Francais, etcetera.

Plus! The usual excess of decorations and embellishments to come crashing down around us. AND cheap and dirty beer.

A bientôt bread-fans,
them Pains
xxx

Bob Moog 23.05.34 - 21.08.05

NEWSFLASH>>>THURSDAY’S CHILD HAS FAR TO GO

Hey Pain-sters and Pain-ettes,
Following a pitifully brief break from live duties, them Pains have been coaxed out of their seaside HQ for the last gig of the summer/first gig of the autumn (delete as appropriate).

Fact: Just four days before this show, Miss Pain will have played their first wedding (If you would like to book Miss Pain as entertainment for your wedding, funeral, Bar Mitzvah, please contact bookings@misspain.co.uk)



THURSDAY 25 AUGUST - BRIGHTON
Totally Bored presents
The Pipettes + Miss Pain + The Poppycocks + Britch
Sussex Arts Club, Ship St, Brighton
doors: 8pm - 2am (Miss Pain onstage 9.45pm)
entry: £5

Come see us causing tremors in the ballroom with our girl/boy electro-shock art-core pop! The set will include old ones about flammable nightwear and tampering with telephones, plus 2 hot new ones, to make you sweat and shake and stamp yr feet.

Headliners will be Brighton’s sassiest heirs to the Girl-group throne - The Pipettes. They dress in polka-dot and like boys and girls in uniform. So make the effort!

More-than-able support comes from The Poppycocks and Britch, plus, there’ll be dancing and shaking ‘til 2am with DJs Monster Bobby and Alex-Electric-Soft-Parade.

OTHER NEWS........
We now have this diary/blog/journal thingy on t’internet. It’ll mainly be used for posting news and sordid gossip, plus any other crap we can think of. And the good news is: you can respond to our online rantings. Yay!

And we haven’t forgotten you Londoners...
THURSDAY 15 SEPTEMBER – LONDON
Gary Le Strange + Miss Pain + more TBC
The Windmill, Blenheim Gardens, Brixton
Doors: 8pm
Entry: £3 (buy tickets in advance)

Keep it Pain-ful,
love
the Miss Pain three
xxx

Welcome - Willkommen - Bien Venue

Salutations Pain-fans,
the Miss Pain three would like to welcome you to this freshly tainted web-log thing.

Some proper news will appear later this week

But while your waiting around, visit www.misspain.co.uk

yours,
Miss Pain