Hello !

Welcome to London in 2010! Ok, so it's already July, but it takes a while to get into a year. I realised I've now been writing for coolgrrrls for 9 years. My first update was just after my 20th birthday and I'm now 29. Basically, if anyone wanted a glimpse into my life, all they would have to do is look over nearly a decade of coolgrrrls entries. I love it! Documented on the internet for all to read - that is, when I remember to update. Ha!

So what's been going on in London?

Lots and lots of venues have been shutting down. It's sad times. Barden's Boudoir, a dank basement bar in Dalston has been bought by the people who run the Old Queens Head and will be re-named The Nest. SHUNT has also finally shut its doors, and the one that hits closest to home for me is the Stag's Head on Orsman Road, which is closing August 8th. I wrote a little ode to the Stag's last week....

Stag's Head

So my favourite pub in London is shutting down. Everyone seems to be questioning how a pub so popular, that’s always FULL could be closing??

Well, there’s more than meets the eye… and business is a confusing thing.

But let’s just remember how rad the Stag’s was for just over a year. Matty bought it May 2009 and by October (that’s when I first went) it was rammed and full of good nights and loads of lovely interesting faces.

All the gigs are free (except that Good Shoes festival), the drinks are reasonably priced (£3 for spirit & mixer), there’s usually at least one person you know there, the bar staff are lovely, they have a weekly free BBQ, and the beer garden’s massive!

These are all pros I want to remember.

I’m sure in my hazy memory I will forget the fact they constantly ran out of beer, even more problematic for me as a girl, was that they constantly ran out of toilet paper!! There was one night I was there when there wasn’t any toilet roll ANYWHERE in the entire building, not even upstairs where Matty and Zack live. YUCK! From that night on I’ve always kept a few Kleenex in my bag JUST in case when I visit the Stag’s.

In the summery hot months, it’s an OVEN inside, and DJing in costume (as I do)  has been somewhat trying. The stage is super super low and tiny, and only if you are in the first 3 people will you see anything. The loos on the other side of the bar had shower curtains for doors, they finally put on closet doors, and one of them broke off and has never been fixed. Now they are completely out of order.

Yup, these are the cons that I blissfully forget when I remember all the awesome bands, late night parties, crazy make outs, cute boys and lovely friends I’ve met / pissed off / hung out with at the Stag’s Head.

So don’t miss out. You’ve got til AUGUST 8th to visit the Stag’s Head and see some live music, get so wasted you puke, or have a free sausage in the beer garden. Visit now before it’s too late. It comes highly recommend as my favourite pub in London.

The Stag’s Head

55 Orsman Road

London

N1 5RA

The Duloks

It's an end to an era, and it's not just venues finishing.  My band, the Duloks, a band I started with ex-coolgrrrl Mira Manga 4.5 years ago, is also calling it quits in August. We've toured all over Europe, released singles & an album, done BBC sessions and concerts, festivals, music videos, basically everything you can do as a band. It's been an amazing experience, and one I wouldn't want to change. But it just seems time to move on and start something new. As Mira says "she's getting old!" So if you are in London, please come out to the final Duloks gig/party on August 14th. Even my mom is coming from Canada!

AUGUST 14 / 2010

7:00PM - 1:00AM

2ND FLOOR CAFÉ AND BAR

ENTRANCE ON BOCKING STREET

NETIL HOUSE

LONDON, UK

E8 3RL

FREE ENTRY

BOLT ACTION FIVE - http://www.myspace.com/boltactionfive

Re-forming for one night only. Good friends of the Duloks and sorely missed East London boys. They haven't played together for 2 years. Expect shambolic greatness.

HOT BREATH KARAOKE - http://www.myspace.com/hotbreathkaraoke

Best Karaoke night in London, the world, and EVER. Taking a break from their karaoke hiatus to come sing and party with the Duloks. Expect prizes, surprises and laughs.

The Racket

The GOOD news is that I have started a new band. I'm playing bass guitar, which I haven't done in about 8 years. We're called the Racket, and it's sloppy Ramones-y  girl rock n roll songs about boys and love-- really simple. I love it! I had missed the bass massively. We just started in March, but have played around London and Brighton twice already. We've also got a song on the Dance Magic Dance cassette compilation release.

Speaking of cassettes, has anyone else noticed the resurgence of cassettes in the past few years? I used to be a champion of the format, but really the quality is crap! Not many people have the players anymore; it's just a trend in my opinion. I think it's cool to release a cassette but then to also give the buyer a code to get the mp3s as well. I could dig out my walkman from the dusty box it's in or I could just pop the mp3s on my iPod. I think most people will choose the latter. I do miss the "mix tape" though; the art form of putting together the perfect flowing mix, getting songs the right length to fit on each side without cutting off or having a massive silence gap was a skill. There is nothing more romantic than making a mix tape for a boy, or receiving one as a present. I used to make them for all my boyfriends. I make mix CDs now for friends but it's just not the same. I like a boy right now... hmmm maybe I should make a mix tape? Right, that's what I'm going to do. I'll report back on the outcome whether he appreciated it and actually has some means of playing it...or whether he just chucks it in the bin.

-- www.twitter.com/marsellars

Hello from rainy London!
Sunday November 22nd, 2009

After leaving my post of Vancouver@nite columnist, it's taken me 5 years of living in London to finally feel like it's my proper home now.

I haven't written on Cool Grrrls for so long I feel like I need to re-introduce myself. I'm Mar Sellars - Hello! Originally from Vancouver, Canada, I moved to London in 2004 for a change and haven't looked back.

I play in an all girl silly trio (along with former Cool Grrrl Mira Manga) The Duloks. We're lucky enough to get to tour all over Germany (7 trips now !!), play festivals, put out records about the sea, and have fun in our shorts and socks. We've had a slew of keyboard players over the years, but this year were lucky enough to find Abi of Abi Makes Music fame to become our permanent third member.

I also spend hours of my time transferring old radio programmes and preserving them for the BBC. It's a geeky audio job, but someone's gotta do it.

But most of my time is spent loving music - playing, going to gigs, touring, festivals, and listening. I also do a podcast of rad new music found here - www.rockonlondon.com

Enough about me - on to my update!

Halloween When I first moved to Britain, Halloween wasn't much of a celebration. Guy Fawkes (November 5th) was still the big thing which is also known as Bonfire night. Basically, they celebrate that in the year 1605, Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up the Parliament buildings but he was unsuccessful and later hanged. It's kind of more gruesome than Halloween when you think of it. Anyway, Halloween has actually grown in popularity, and this year was MASSIVE (thanks to the fact it landed on a Saturday). I was out on the streets of Shoreditch surrounded by 100s of zombies - yes, the British mostly go for blood / dead type costumes.

New Venues

The thing I've noticed about living in East London is wherever it's trendy, people move out once it becomes too mainstream. When I first moved here, Shoreditch was the epicentre of 'nu rave,' and all things neon, but now that on a regular Saturday night Shoreditch is full of the same types of people you'd see staggering around Oxford Street or a City pub it seems most trendy types have moved up Kingsland Road to Dalston. There are always loads of new venues cropping up, and right now the place to be is the Stag's Head on Orsmon Street (2 blocks west off Kingsland Road). It's a pub with cheap booze, bands, and the occasional lock in. The drink prices are ace at the Stag (£2.50 for booze + mixer) my only negative about this place is the shower curtains instead of doors in the ladies loos. Another new venue, which I just played at, is the Hobby Horse at 281 Kingsland Road (formerly Melange). Melange was this really down to earth art space which had dirty dance parties in the basemen. Now the Hobby Horse is a "nice" pub where you can get chicken caesar salads and gourmet burgers. Can someone say Gentrification!? There's a new free band night every Friday run by Ed & Dan called Club The Mammoth It's really fun and free, so a good way to start a Friday night. First band's on at 9pm, and the live music is done by 11:30pm so you can still go out afterwards!

Christmas parties

The lights down Oxford Street spell out "A Christmas Carol" in honour of the new Jim Carrey movie, and it also means it's already time for Christmas parties (being mid-November). Last year my work party got a little out of hand. The typical drinking too much with your co-workers and things you shouldn't have done happening, and everyone being quite embarrassed the next day! Oops! This year, the BBC has announced that due to the recent economic climate, no one gets a single penny spent on any Christmas parties. Here are some good Christmas parties you should attend if you are in London from local bands and club promoters:

December 1 – Official Secrets Act Christmas Party at the Barfly Camden OSA have been holed away up in Manchester for the past 2 months writing a new album. This is their triumphant return to London with hopefully some amazing new songs? www.myspace.com/officialsecretsact

December 4 – 6 – All Tomorrow's Parties Nightmare Before Christmas at Butlins - Minehead ATP is the adult festival. That doesn't mean family it means adult. It's held at a holiday camp (Butlins) so everyone gets to stay in chalets this means showers, beds, sheets, kitchen etc.! It's a dream come true. No camping. It's brilliant because you can bring your own food & booze. Your ticket gets you a chalet, into the gigs, and entry to Splashworld (an indoor waterpark), and some other fun activities. Totally recommended and My Bloody Valentine is curating this one. www.atpfestival.com

December 7 – Bethan Elfyn's Xmas Party at The Social – Free Entry Welsh host of Radio 1's Introducing show is throwing a knees up at the Social with live music from Tara Busch and lots of guest DJs including myself.

December 11 – LAST Twee As F**k EVER at Buffalo Bar Very successful Twee night is moving on – there will be a replacement called So Tough! So Cute! But for the last ever Twee though, they've got Comet Gain and Veronica Falls playing and it's only £3 entry. Bargain! www.myspace.com/tweeasfuck

December 12 – weknowwhatyoudidlastnight.com Christmas party at the Stag's Head Chris runs this scenester / party photo web site and it's probably the best of its kind in London. He's having a Christmas party with S.C.U.M. and Othello Wolf playing live and look it's at the Stag's Head which I mentioned earlier. All coming full circle. weknowwhatyoudidlastnight.com

December 18 – Meat Raffle at Catch, 22 Kingsland Road – Free Entry This is the LAST Meat Raffle EVER! Milan and Dave are hanging up their cleavers and moving on. So expect lots of old friends and DJs from the past few years and LIVE music from my band The Duloks. www.myspace.com/meatraffleclub

December 19 – Hot Breath Karaoke Kids Show at the Bethnal Green Workingman's Club
By far the best karaoke night in London, maybe even the world – run by Canadians Mike and Jen. They bring entertainment and comedy to karaoke. There's a prize wheel, and every time you sing you get a chance to win a prize (which is usually some amazing find from a charity shop).

Love from London – xx Mar Sellars