Practice is ace.

February 25 - Practice is ace.

Practice on Tuesday night was ace. We gathered together as many amps and microphones as we could find, and did some live recording.

There was a crescent of amps around the drumkit - a range of shapes and sizes, it was impressive to behold.

We had loads of fun - I should have taken a picture for blogging reasons, but in amongst the playing of music, I forgot.

Sorry more-than-likely-imaginary readers, I am a low-class bloggist. I'll make sure to get a picture next Tuesday.

In the meantime here is a picture from a previous practice. Admit it, you can't even tell the difference.

I think this was in the summer at some point. It's quite light, and this was definitely an evening.

I picked this one of Wendy and Tom, because they look so happy and because in most band photos Wendy is hidden behind the rest of us, that's not very fair.

We also did an ace new song. There used to be another song with the same name, but it's very different now.

...You might already know this, but unless there is an over-riding reason to cancel we tend to practice each and every Tuesday. We've found that if we don't have a regular rehearsal slot it can be quite tricky to get all eight of us together.

We can spend a whole week each saying which days we are and aren't free.

There are just too-darn-many of us, clearly.

Maybe if there were more days than The Rocky Nest members, then we could sort this out.

Essentially we need an extra two days a week. I propose that they are placed between Saturday and Sunday and are counted as part of the weekend. Now, what shall we call them?

- Jonny Nest

What are the Rocky Nest Listening to Right Now?

February 21 - What are the Rocky Nest Listening to Right Now?

Hello everyone! I am Sally Nest, and I am poorly. Whilst the rest of the nest are in talks this very afternoon about our grand schemes for making our first pop video (very very exciting) I thought I would make a start on my blogular feature which can be easily done from the quarantined space of my bedroom.

I just asked everyone what their favourite song was currently and am going to post them up here. Since there are 8 of us, that is alot of ear candy for your very own ears!

I wasn't going to have winners, but Paul Nest is the winner at the moment for naming a song that I can't find the original of on Youtube, the obscure bugger that he is! I can only find a cover. Now, fingers crossed I embed the youtube videos okay and here we go!



1. Will Nest: Nite Becomes Day - Citizen Cope


2. Paul Nest: The Little Black Foal - Jake Thackeray (THIS IS A COVER)


3. Tom Nest: Everything Merges with the Night - Brian Eno


4. Wendy Nest: My Teacher Died - Diane Cluck


5. Izzy Nest: Jungle Drum - Emililana Torrini


6. Hannah Nest: Love is Strange - Mickey and Sylvia


7. Jonny Nest: Swans - Camera Obscura


8. Sally Nest: This Sweet Love - James Yuill


I hope you enjoyed our first installation of random ear candy! I'm going to check on my super spicy soup and get myself tucked back up in bed!

-Sally Nest

Mixtape magic

February 20 - Mixtape magic

On Thursday three of us, Han, Paul and I, went along to see one of Mikey's gigs That Exploded as did loads of our friends.


As well as getting to watch sets from Leeds' i concur, and Hull's Misshapen Lodge and Dead Sea Diver.


I'd not seen the Lodge before and I really enjoyed it. Known for being experimental, I wasn't sure what the Lodge'd be like - I sometimes have a tricky time when it comes to art with sound. But for my money when it comes to the blurry line where sound-art meets music, they were definitely where I'd want them to be.


You could hear influences from all manner of genres, and all sorts of bands in there. They also did the best dealing with a heckler ever. They gave him a massive wall of sound to the face.


It was lovely to see Dead Sea Diver too. I'd seen Landseer before, also featuring songs by Chris, but it had been ages, so this was a welcome return as far as I was concerned. I'm hoping for lots more gigs soon. Also Dead Sea Diver is a much better name.



But the other thing happening that evening, aside from the live music, was myriad recorded music being passed around.


Tom Wiles, one of the Lodge members, had instigated a mixtape swap, which Hannah and I took part in, alongside a fair few other people.


The tape I picked out of Tom's satchel was actually made by the very person whose idea it was in the first place.


This picture is the tape which Tom made for me.


I understand that as of just now he has also started a blog about this mixtape swap, called The Lost Art Of Making a Mixtape.


I thoroughly endorse the mixtape idea. It was a huge nostalgia trip to make a mixtape, I hadn't done that in years. And now I get to listen to a load of music selected by Tom, which I am really enjoying.


It really does bring home to me just how niche and gentle my taste in music in. Lord help the mixtapee who retrieved the tape I had put in Tom's bag.


(Pictured is the inlay of what Tom put on the tape I got)


One of the things which surprised me about the whole process, and I suppose shouldn't have surprised me at all, was how tricky it is to pick up C60 cassettes these days. There were some C90s out there, but I really wanted C60s.


After trying all the charity shops in Beverley on a lunchbreak, I eventually resorted to eBay. Who would have thought fifteen years ago that the blank tape would become such a tricky to find commodity by now.


Anyhow, I'm looking forward to future mixtape swaps now.


Hey Han, whose tape did you get?


- Jonny Nest

What is going on in Nestland?

February 19 - What is going on in Nestland?

So it's all very exciting in Nestland at the moment, which is why we thought it'd be nice to get this blog going.


We've been planning to record an album for a while now, and we have been working on, practising and polishing new songs, as well as some older ones.


We've got a list of songs which we're hoping will be on there, which people may well recognise from our gigs.


Personally I am most excited by two of the new songs - Grief, My Lonely Friend and First Came The Drum.


Grief... builds towards this fantastic ending which I get really excited about as soon as we start playing the first bar, I love the way it unfolds.


But First... has probably become my new favourite of our songs. Previously and for a long while it was Lenny and Jenny, but now I've moved on. It's so much fun to play and just romps along at such a fantastic pace.


I can't wait to record these tracks.


As well as the recording itself we're talking about artwork - we're all going to try drawing things - new promo photos, and even videos. It's all fantastic.


There is one thing missing. By necessity, we're going to be doing fewer gigs, but it's well worth it to create an album.


So yes, if you look at the Live section of the website, at the moment there is only one gig listed, but that's very exciting too, tada tátà, one of the fantastic Cosy bands are coming over from Sweden to play a UK tour, including a stop in Hull and I'm really happy that we get to host them here. Ace.


But anyway, how are you doing?


- Jonny Nest

The Rocky Nest are a band from Hull.

February 18 - The Rocky Nest are a band from Hull.

We've been playing together for a while now, and we're about to start recording our album.

So, we thought this would be a nice time to start blogging about that, and other things too.

- Jonny Nest