We took a bit of time off gigging in winter 2012 to get lots of new material written and rehearsed, but we couldn't stay away for long, so ended up doing a few choice gigs playing a mixture of old and new stuff.

My favourite was at the Hootenanny, Brixton, where we played a raucous late set to a capacity crowd. It was my first time playing this venue, and it's got a really great vibe, so if for some reason you live in south London, get down there immediately.

We also did some ace wee gigs elsewhere in town, including another sell-out gig at the superb new venue the Hackney Attic, a bar and performance space at the top of the new Hackney Picturehouse. Top that off with a fun set at the revamped Floripa (formerly Favela Chic) and a double set of entirely new stuff at our regular(ish) haunt the Trinity in Borough and it actually wasn't that quiet a winter of gigs.

There's lots of great stuff planned for 2012, including what I think is some of our most exciting material yet, so keep an eye on our website for details.

Now if that isn't a news post that excites your interest, I don't know what is.

Yep, in January I was featured as part of the Bollywood Brass Band in a BBC Radio 2 documentary about the international brass band scene. They came with us on one of our many India jaunts and you can hear some (what I think is) interesting stuff about the development of different international brass traditions, as well as interviews and music from the BBB. Well, you could if the programme were still up. Which, you know, it isn't.

But if enough of you demand that this landmark piece of brass-themed radio documentary making is repeated, it will happen. Believe, people!

In the meantime, here's a video I took when we were interviewing the excellent Jaipur Kawa brass band in Rajasthan.

Hackney Colliery Band released our debut album, creatively titled 'Hackney Colliery Band' on 4th July with a big sold-out launch gig at the New Empowering Church on our home turf of Hackney. We played a 2 hour set straight through, which made faces hurt and bodies sweaty, but was great fun.

The album is available in all good record shops, and in high-quality digital download format online through iTunes or lots of other online retailers.

HCB have teamed up with our record label Wah Wah 45s to offer a free taster of our album, which is coming out on July 4th 2011. Hey, why don't you come along to the launch on 1st July to get your hands on a copy of the album? Or if you want it even sooner, sign up to our mailing list here.

Here it is:

December and January has been a busy time for the Hackney Colliery Band  - I even spent my 30th birthday holed up in a studio in deepest north west London, which was not how I'd anticipated my 30s would start. Still, the studio itself is superb and is one of the few still to record to tape, and by a bizarre coincidence the tape that we were recording over contained the masters of my friend Darren Hayman's band Hefner's album We Love the City.

HCB are working on our debut album and second single (out soon on Wah Wah 45s), so there's been rehearsals, recordings, and enough admin to overload the Chinese civil service. 

Still, all this prep work now will hopefully yield some exciting times for the band in 2011; lots of stuff in the pipeline. Will of course report here, but in the meantime head over here to join the Facebook group for all the latest news.

December was also a busy time for the band, with lots of public, private and corporate gigs around the country, including a bizarre gig inside the horribly-named Xscape Snowdome in Leeds (yep, on the indoor snow) for a snowboarding competition, 

a great wedding at the BAC and a fun gig at the PigPen awards (alongside my friends Charlotte Young and Darren Hayman and ace band United Vibrations), as well as various private functions. We also smashed it at a sold out gig at Scala where we played to probably our largest (and most enthusiastic) crowd yet! Was a superb gig, and thanks as always to Wah Wah 45s for hosting and having us along.

Did lots of musical bits and bobs in Autumn 2010, including a great duet gig with Darren Hayman at the Bush Hall, a gig or two and some recording at Maida Vale with the John Bennett Band. Both Darren and John are great to work with despite being very different musicians; they both trust the instincts and creativity of their musicians, which isn't always as common as you might hope.

I also did some arranging and playing on a pitch for a BBC drama. Sadly didn't come off in the end, but was good to work with Rob Lord for the first time.

HCB did a great gig playing to our biggest and best crowd ever at La Scala in Kings Cross in November as part of a superb (and massive) line-up. Thanks, as always, to our label Wah Wah 45s who put the night together and hosted. Also to Kim Leng-Hills who took these ace photos.

September was a very busy time for HCB. Gigs that month included playing at the Mercury Music Prize, boutique festival Aestival and to a sold-out Jazz Cafe where Amy Winehouse joined us on stage for an impromptu (and entirely unexpected and therefore busked...) version of Valerie during our headline set. Strange night.

Hackney Colliery Band released our debut single in July 2010, and we got plenty of good reviews and lots of radio play all over the world, including some nice coverage on Radio 1. Not bad for something we recorded as a demo for £50!

The single sold out its initial vinyl run and was re-pressed in November 2010. Vinyl copies should still be available from some record shops, and digital copies are available until at least September 2087 from the usual suspects including iTunes, Kudos Records, Juno, Picadilly and Spotify.

Hackney Colliery Band / Money 7" :: Debut single by WahWah45s

“I’m excited about the Hackney Colliery Band! Why?” Gilles Peterson (BBC Radio 1)

“Could well be the strongest single to date for the Wah Wah camp, that basically does what the Hot 8 Brass Band did for Tru Thoughts, or what Matthew Herbert did for the very British Big Band sound. Take the heritage of the colliery band/Salvation Army, mix with Mike Westbrook and divide by the National Youth Orchestra and you get the HCB. Their cover of ODB’s ‘Got Your Money’ adds weight to the cause. Go get.” Found Sounds (DJ Magazine)

“‘Money’ is a no-brainer, easy sure-shot, simple and plain!” DJ Monk-One, NYCT (USA)

“That Hackney Colliery Band is ridiculous. Can they get out to California very soon?! Played “money” on this week’s show, quite a pleasure to play and will be dishing this one out to the masses many more times.” Jason Pulaski (Ubiquity / Kuci 88.9FM, USA)

“I`m loving these Hackney Colliery tunes, that’s perfectly my sound for sure! Great work and another dope wah wah 45 release!!! Will be getting lots of spins for sure.” Karsten John (Vinyl Vibes, Germany)

“I think the Hackney Colliery must have been before my time, but their band is still sounding fat and very funky. “Money’ is on the money. Can’t say fairer than thout!” Russ Jones (Hackney Globe Trotter / Future World Funk)

“Beautifully funky, already spinnin over lisbon skies and today on Noobai Soul cafe weds dj set. Saucy!” DJ Tiago Santos (Spaceboys, Lisbon, Portugal)

“Wow! What an amazing great summer tune this is…Love it…Will play it everywhere.” Phil Wicked Jazz Sounds (Holland)

“The Hackney Colliery Band seven is a winner! It was my last track at Hi-Fi terapi last Saturday. People were going wild and screaming for more bad ass brass!!” Eivind Olsvik (Hi-Fi Terapi, Norway)

“Money is a monster tune ! Will play on my openair show (SOAS) airing next week (500 downloads per week) …and my occasional forays behind the decks at Favela Chic!” Chris Greenwood (Stop Making Sense)

“Can’t wait to play HCB at my regular Sunday afternoon in Hollywood. I love seeing their expression change from “What’s this?” to “Is this what I think it is?” to “This is fucking great”.” DJ Dave Young (Los Angeles, USA)

“Really feeling this! Can’t wait to play “Money” out!” Ross (Part-Time Heroes)

“I ruddy love the Hackney Colliery Band, heavy.” Capstone (Wah Wah 45s / Tru Thoughts)

“Brilliant releases as always. “Money’ will rock summer dance floors 100% sure. It’s a pleasure to support such talented brass bands on my radio show!” Enrique Domenech (Fusionova Radio)

“What’s The Time, Mr. Wasp?” I’d say it’s time for another drink! Love that drunken horn vibe on his b-side – it’s like they’ve staggered out of a Hackney pub at the beginning, and marched off down the road happy as Larry.” Paris Pompor (Sydney Australia)

“Money reminds me of the street art that The Hot 8 Brass Band brought to my attention. Contender for our next show. Now on frequency every week!” M.path.iq (Germany)

“Loving the concept of a Colliery band coming off the Hackney marshes with two quality cuts of Jazzziness to impress us with loving it.” DJ Abbo (Starpoint Radio)

“Pure fun! Nice brass sounds!” Markus Milz (Further In Fusion)

“The funkiest brass band I have heard in a while and both tracks brought a huge smile to my face!” Georgios Paraglou (Greece)

“HCB stepping up and showing all the brass bands out there how it should be done! ‘Money’ already spun on the show and will be getting repeats all summer long” King Tee (Elbow Rooms)

“Had the privilege of seeing the Hackney Colliery Band perform at the Wah Wah Joint at VIbe Bar before moving to Canada.  I knew from your reaction at the show that they would be added to the already stellar Wah Wah artist line up.  Best of luck with the release, it will without a doubt do very well, hope it makes you lots of MONEY!” DJ Tom Mannix (Canada)

“I love the HCB! Would be great to see them in Brighton!” DJ Kappa (Brighton)

Radio play from Gilles Peterson (BBC Radio 1), Jason Pulaski (Kuci 88.9FM, USA), Markus Milz, Further In Fusion, Ennio Styles (3RRR, Australia), Pete Isaac, Jelly Jazz (Phonic.fm), Phil Lvene (Eclecticjazz.com), Tiago Santos (Radio Oxigenio 102.6FM, Portugal) & Enrique Domenech (Fusionova Radio)

Did a few other bits with Robin Ince over the summer, including a School for Gifted Children where myself and some other musicians improvised a soundtrack to Phil Jupitus' reading of erotic poetry. Pretty much the usual, really.

Both HCB and the Bollywood Brass Band performed at the Durham International Brass Festival in July, which was superb. Bands from all over the world converged on Durham for some loud blowing down bits of welded plumbing. It was a heavy weekend of playing, with a total of 12 sets between the bands and jam sessions until 4am. Great to see what other brass musicians are up to all over the world; the answer is: lots of spectacular stuff. Which makes me feel both good and bad.

In July, we performed Segue at the National Theatre as part of the Hide & Seek Festival, which was hot (a word which, in this context, can be used both in its literal and ‘something to shout during an impressive jazz solo’ sense).