Midnight Mines

Hi, it’s me, James Dean, here to tell you that MYSTERY PLANES #6 will take place on Saturday 27th January 2024 in the upstairs bar of Walthamstow Trades Hall. If you were one of those t***s that run a ‘reggae disco’ then you’d be telling people to stick the date in their ‘raving diary’ or some embarrassing schtick like that, but I am handsome dead film guy so you can stick this information in my pipe and smoke it for all I care. I suppose I should mention that uk improv legends THE BOHMAN BROTHERS will be playing, if you don’t know who they are I’ve heard from Virvon Varvon that you can “google it”. Also an expanded line-up of garage weirdos THEE MIDNIGHT MINES. And it’s a few quid to get in and runs the usual time a show in a bar runs at blah blah, and the bloody MAJOR TRAUMA SOUND SYSTEM will be playing stupid tapes in between the live music. Right, I’ve got to get back to jamming with Shane MacGowan and Jimi Hendrix or whatever the hell it is tormented souls do to pass time in the afterlife. ‘See you in the pit’. I’m so glad I’m dead and don’t have to come to this.

SHOW #332 - MOR Mines It's a radio show thing

Lurching up a deserted high street on a cold afternoon. Spy themes for neighbours peeking behind grubby curtains. Zimmer frame dancehall. The UFO sounds you hear when you're chained to a radiator. 39 degrees of simulated stereo. Cheap at half the price. Relentlessly satisfied. Dubs buried underneath layers of rust. Sleep paralysis. This is not the youthful dream (again).

https://midnightmines.bandcamp.com/album/pipe-clang-distress-call-from-the-time-locked-spare-vault

Clean Robert and Private Sorrow in The Quickies, early 2000s. Check them out playing together again on the brand new smash hit tape ‘Pipe-Clang Distress Call From The Time-Locked Spare Vault’, out now on Mystery Plane!

MOR MINES - PIPE-CLANG DISTRESS CALL FROM THE TIME-LOCKED SPARE VAULT

Longtime coming collaboration between Midnight Mines and our pal Clean Robert of the infamous Quickies and the great MOR Paranoids. 8 songs + 8 dubs + 4 spoken word pieces. Stick it on at your work xmas party.

https://midnightmines.bandcamp.com/album/pipe-clang-distress-call-from-the-time-locked-spare-vault

Private Sorrow's other band VIRVON VARVON (less improvised, more two chord punk songs etc) have some shows coming up, plus you can check out some new tracks over the Girlsville Records Bandcamp.

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22, VIRVON VARVON SUPPORTING MARK SULTAN aka BBQ (THE NIGHT OWL FINSBURY PARK, LONDON)
Adv tickets advised, venue is small - get them from DICE or See Tickets

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 29, GONERFEST (MEMPHIS) WITH THE GORIES etc

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 29, GONERFEST AFTER SHOW WITH AAAA THE NEW MEMPHIS LEGS, DANNY & THE STOOLS, TRUE SONS OF THUNDER (B-SIDE, MEMPHIS)

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 30, GONERFEST AFTER SHOW w/ VIRVON VARVON (Uk)+ THE POP RITUAL+ GENERAL LABOR+ (BAR DKDC, MEMPHIS)

Tonight at Walthamstow Trades Hall!

Mystery Planes #5 w/ The Rebel Saturday night yeah?

SATURDAY 15TH: MYSTERY PLANES #5
An evening of performance and found sounds by the Midnight Mines and friends, featuring live sets from THE REBEL, INDUSTRY PLANT and MAJOR TRAUMA SOUND SYSTEM presents DAMAGED DYLAN
"more eternal dream music for yr saturday night"
There will be a full range of handmade tapes, CDs, books and more available on the night, please bring cash if you would like to purchase something
£6 general admission, £5 for members
Tickets on the door only

The Rebel in Mos Eisley 15 July
https://www.facebook.com/events/613778294152154

PRIVATE SORROW | MORE DISTURBANCE

https://midnightmines.bandcamp.com/album/more-disturbance

The book was liner notes to a compact disc and the interzones were there to fill the gaps no blank pages in between the cut-and-paste and this is the soundtrack to the book but when I listen to it, it makes me want to tear things up, and stick the down on a page, overlay, and on and on it goes, an endless cycle. I'm getting all tore up, fu***ng glued down, disappearing underneath layers, lost between pages, thoughts smudged like ink blots, words disjointed, divorced of meaning , endlessly repeated, everything an echo.

Tapes & Organ by Private Sorrow and The Major Trauma Sound System, recorded in London E17

Limited run pro-dubbed cassette with hand-printed covers available separately or as a bundle with second edition of Create Disturbance In Your Mind book

This was originally called 'Private Sorrow Reads A Book' and was like a screwed up version of an audio book, the backing tracks coming from tapes prepared for DJ sets at Mystery Planes nites in the upstairs room of Walthamstow Trades Hall: heat-smeared horns, snatches of rap records and dubbed radiophonics. I read over it but hated the sound of my own voice so erased that bit and just stitched together the most interesting instrumental sections. I say interesting, who fu***ng knows? As the Icky Boyfriends so succinctly put it: I'M NOT FASCINATING.

your power pal

P. Sorrow E17

Up next: MOR MINES (finally), Industry Plant, Cosmic Slops 2xLP

https://midnightmines.bandcamp.com/album/more-disturbance

THE MEDIUM WAS TEDIUM

More Disturbance, by Private Sorrow 2 track album

DO THE LOCOMOTION

Midnight Mines - Do The Locomotion (2017) All proceeds from ads that appear on my channel go to copyright holders, my channel is not monetized, I earn nothing; it's about the artists and the music, n...

Art-I-Ficial Light

Midnight Mines - Artificial Light (2016) All proceeds from ads that appear on my channel go to copyright holders, my channel is not monetized, I earn nothing; it's about the artists and the music, n...

Took our name from this track by The Survivors (pre-UFO Jim Sullivan band)

The Survivors – Midnight Mines (Garage Rock, 1966) A couple years before recording his acclaimed solo album "U.F.O", singer-songwriter Jim Sullivan was a member of the Garage Rock group The Survivors. This so...

Oto

Midnight Mines at Cafe Oto Midnight Mines at Cafe Oto20th of May 2017London

Footage of our show supporting Acid Mothers Temple

Midnight Mines Live at Pulse Studios London Midnight Mines supporting the Acid Mothers Temple Speed Guru Kawabata Makoto in Pulse Studios WalthamstowAll sounds and its rights and credits reserved to B...

MINISTER TO A MINES DISEASED

Thanks to Luca for filming us, and the Bachs for film title inspiration

MIDNIGHT MINES - MINISTER TO A MINES DISEASED

Thanks to Nate K for profiling Midnight Mines and the Mystery Plane universe for this Bandcamp feature

The Tape Label Report, February 2023 This month's round-up of five cassette-focused labels to know and key releases from each.

Hi, this is Hans Hillmann. Sadly I no longer reside amongst you puny humans, but look, I designed lots of amazing movie posters, like this one, and if I did still exist on this earthly plane then I reckon I’d be heading to the upstairs bar of Walthamstow Trades Hall this evening for Mystery Planes #4. I’ve heard that it’s going to feature the fantastic Dee Byrne Music doing a solo saxophone and electronics set, Private Sorrow reading from his stupid book of automatic writing, the Cosmic Slops making strange noises, and a tapes and effects DJ set from the Major Trauma Sound System. Word on the street is that it kicks off at 8pm and finishes at midnight, and you can purchase advance tickets from the link in the bio of this online platform via which I am communing with you from the beyond. Right, I’m off to arm wrestle over the last sheet of letraset with Saul Bass. Have fun pop pickers!

Most recent Midnight Mines tape on Trouble In Mind Records is reviewed in the latest ‘New Weird Britain’ column over at The Quietus. We’ll have copies of this cassette for sale in the upstairs room of Walthamstow Trades Hall on Saturday night. I’m chuffed to bits about the Pink Floyd comparison and off to smash my echo pedal to bits with a hammer.

The Quietus | Features | New Weird Britain In Review For January By Noel Gardner Your guide to the essential new releases from New Weird Britain returns, with jazz-into-techno impulsion sessions, feverish drone-doom and rickety synthpop in tow

Corroded metal blips and soaring static symphonies this Saturday at Walthamstow Trades Hall with sets from the Cosmic Slops, Private Sorrow, and special guest Dee Byrne Music

//////////
SATURDAY 4TH: Mystery Planes #4
An evening of spontaneous performance and found sounds by the Midnight Mines and friends.
MORE INFO / TICKETS https://ticketlab.co.uk/event/id/14908 #/

Sideways sounds for your sat-ur-day nite 4th February in the upstairs bar of Walthamstow Trades Hall with Dee Byrne Music. See you by the tangle of leads.

Tickets: https://ticketlab.co.uk/event/id/14908%23/

Coming up soon at Walthamstow Trades Hall

Saturday 4th February, upstairs at Walthamstow Trades Hall: DEE BYRNE

Dee Byrne Music is known as one of the most exciting improvisers in the UK, through her work with saxophonist Cath Roberts, her quintet Entropi and the electronic duo Deemer. Through the organisation LUME, with Cath, she has produced live events (including in London Jazz Festival), made a series of releases on the Luminous label, and performed around Europe.

Dee is our guest at Mystery Planes #4, performing a solo saxophone + electronics set, as well as playing with the Midnight Mines. Tickets: https://ticketlab.co.uk/event/id/14908 #

A second edition of Private Sorrow's book has been published by The Grass Is Green In The Fields For You:

https://thegrassisgreeninthefieldsforyou.co.uk/Create-Disturbance-In-Your-Mind

You can purchase it from Good Press in Glasgow, also some copies on our bandcamp. Should be available in a few other places soon.

120mm x 155mm, 132pp, perfect bound with fold in flaps, black and white digital printed interior, red and violet risograph printed cover. This is TGIGITFFY-033.

Paste up artwork for the zine that was inside the ‘If You Can’t Find A Partner Use A Wooden Chair’ LP

The bad news: Autodrome is sadly unwell and can't play Mystery Planes #3 tonight

The good news: Private Sorrow's dear pal Stix Champion: Music and Skateboarding has kindly agreed to step in at the last minute to play in the third trio (of three naturally) this evening when Sorrow, Saturday and Stix will be attempting to levitate the roof off Walthamstow Trades Hall with some one chord rocknroll. Here are Sorrow and Stix as captured in Hamburg during renaissance times. I will be attempting to be 17% less melted tonight but can't guarantee anything. See you by the dartboard.

Making the magic happen, December 2019. Me and Baron Saturday sat up late into the night in my living room making one off cut-and-paste sleeves for the remaining copies of the ‘If You Can’t Find A Partner Use A Wooden Chair’ lp so we could flog them at the show we’d organised with P.Wits and Thistle Group and Kleistwahr. These are long gone but we’ll have other bits from our tiny universe of homemade fun on sale tonight in the upstairs room of Walthamstow Trades Hall, including the last few hand-numbered copies of the first edition of Private Sorrow’s stupid book, plus tapes and CDs by the Cosmic Slops, Midnight Mines, solo jams and more. See you by the faulty 4-track tape machine.

Fig. 1: photo of generic garage band. This could be Baron Saturday and Private Sorrow, but it’s not, just better than posting selfies (the Midnight Mines selfie stick is already over-used for our TikTok account).

Fig. 2: The Trouble In Mind Records Explorers series, who tomorrow will release the ‘Scratching The Beat Surface’ tape by Midnight Mines. They say: “TIM.EXP-023: MM have been at it for a few yrs now, laying down abstract scree & strum in their London hideaway. This is their TiM debut; primitive rhythms underneath dadaist wails and guitar/synth squall”.

Fig. 3: another photo of a generic garage band, this time a trio. This is to signify that Mystery Planes nite #3 will take place this Saturday in the upstairs room of Walthamstow Trades Hall and the theme is trios, trilogies, triumvirates, triptychs etc. As much three-sided fun that you can cram in for three quid.

Fig. 4: the 7” made out of glue turned up this week as well. I’ve read Teun’s notes several times and i’m sure it’s dead simple but I’m a bit thick and still can’t really work out what the score is. I think it’s something like I have a one-off 45 that will destroy my record player if I play it, and also a mold to make copies with glue which I will probably screw up because I’m equally useless with my hands and my brain, and if I give you a copy and you play it then it will destroy your record player too? Something like that anyway. This is probably what they mean when they say “art damaged”.

Fig. 5: another picture of a generic garage band because I’ve lost control of my stupid thumbs

A triptych of tangled wires, a triad of tense frets, a triumvirate of tongue depression, Mystery Planes #3 is all about the number 3, every triangle has 3 sides, no more no less, you don’t have to guess. And maybe the Major Trauma Sound System will only play 3 tunes on a loop, maybe the whole evening will only feature cover versions of the excellent pop group Trio. Who knows? Take a flight into the mystery by shuffling along to Walthamstow Trades Hall and poking yr head round the door of the upstairs room to see what the hell is going on. Books, tapes and zines will also be on sale. You’re wild man…. wiiiiillllld.

Saturday!

Oh! One more! On Saturday night, upstairs at The Trades, Mystery Planes #3

An evening of spontaneous performance and found sounds by the Midnight Mines and friends.

As it's the third one we are going be presenting the music as an ever evolving trio, featuring different combinations of:

- Gardyloo Spew (SPeW)
- Autodrome (Cowboy Flying Saucer / Cosmic Slops)
- Baron Saturday (Midnight Mines)
- Private Sorrow (Midnight Mines)

+ warm-up DJ set from the Major Trauma Sound System

Music a bit like this:
https://midnightmines.bandcamp.com/
https://gardyloo.bandcamp.com/

"more eternal dream music for yr saturday night"

£3 on the door or free for Trades Hall Members

There will be a full range of handmade tapes, CDs, books and more available on the night, please bring cash if you would like to purchase something.

Just like Venom, The Wipers and Motörhead, Mystery Planes #3 is all about the trio. An ever-evolving trio triangulating the upstairs room of Walthamstow Trades Hall into a three-sided dimensional snooker rack of sound. Come down on Saturday 8th October to discover what the fu***ng hell I’m on about.

Distant explosions in cardboard rooms. Fake laser fire in fudged riff frenzy. Amateur anarchy underneath the east london railway arches. A string rings out by mistake and then repeats. Vague memory of psych flexi. Blast beats pitched down to minus three bpm. The times we never even thought to speak. Oi craft dad turn it down i'm trying to watch netflix.

https://midnightmines.bandcamp.com/album/scratching-the-beat-surface

New tape for Trouble In Mind Records available to pre-order now.