Hey Figsters!

It’s been a long time in the making but Trouble At The Rubber Plant was released online on 31st March 2011! You can get it now from the iTunes Store, Amazon, Spotify and Tesco Entertainment. Take your pick and Get Figged!

Holdable, throwable, coffee-mattable CDs are in production and will be available in the early summer; again, watch this space for news.

Making this album has been a labour of love for us Figs. As Keith said yesterday in a Facebook post about the album: “This is what blood, sweat and tears sound like”.  It’s a big task to take on the writing, playing, engineering and production of an album of songs, with steep learning curves and rocky patches of self-doubt. On top of that, we’ve been interrupted by BIG SHIT… TWICE… no more of that, we hope.

We’ve made the kind of album we want to listen to and it really is an album not just a collection of individual songs. The tracks are not ordered by commercial viability, with the big hit first followed by ever decreasing quality as so many albums are today; they are in the order they need to be in to provide the ups, downs, peace and trauma we all experience in life. This is how albums should be. Hey, the ones with the most commercial tracks first might sell more but as albums, they’re shit.

So, some people will hate it. Some people will like some tracks and not others. Some people, who like an eclectic mix of songs which don’t allow you to quite settle into one pattern, will enjoy all of it… we hope!

It hasn’t been all Tim and Keith, of course: we’ve  had help from some great friends, so big Fig thanks go to the following:

• Ewan Beck (bass on Body | Soul, Tsunami Of Soul and Rusty Car), Owen Curtis Williams (drums on Body | Soul) & Harriet Bruce (cello on Sirens) for their figtacular playing.
• Paul Gilbody and Andy Mallarky whose double bass and cello work never made it onto the final master, sorry guys!
• Wing Commander Jimmy Hooverfish for his ears and expertise during track mixing.
• Admiral Colin Douglas Usher for his  testing regime and constant badgering (and for his drum banging during Fig live sets).
• Simon Kirby and Paul Gilbody (again!) for Acoustic Edinburgh: one of the best monthly acoustic music evenings there is; and for their unending encouragement and repeat invitations to perform.
• All who have played with the Fig over the years and helped shape what we are today.
• All our family and friends for their love and support through it all. Fig bless you all!

We have gigs coming up and will be organising an album launch event in Edinburgh during the summer, so keep your eyes on this blog for more news.

Thanks for your on-going support, we really appreciate it and we hope you enjoy Trouble At The Rubber Plant.

Cheers

Tim and Keith.

Hi Figsters!

Yes, it’s been a figgin’ long wait but at last, the Fig album, Trouble At The Rubber Plant, is to be released this Spring! Yep, the album will be available to purchase and download through all the usual popular online store VERY SOON. A CD release will follow later in the summer (when we have enough cash!). We’ll also be organising an Album Launch gig, which will feature a bunch of great friends and musicians. More on all these things soon.

In the meantime, take a listen to the low-res preview of all the tracks, below. If you love it, that’s cool. If you hate it, that’s cool too.

And as always, many thanks for your support!

The Figs.

Hi Figsters,

So, where the Fig are we? when are we coming out? Will we look and feel the same? It’s been over a year since the last post. Terrible. But we were busy! Busy with getting the final mixes for the Fig Album completed. We want it to be right. We want it to bright. We want it to be tasty.

Then bad shit happened.

Cancer really does screw up plans like not much else. It screws up minds, families, friendships, income; assumptions… most things in fact, especially your health. So Fig… Fell silent.

But there is a new dawn. Health and hope are returning. A lightness of the soul, not felt for far too long, is cleansing.

Cut the pretentious twoddle man, where’s the figgin’ album? When’s yer next gig?
Well, Tim Fig is performing spoken word stuff at Underword on Monday 10th August, part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Piano Bar, Frederick Street, Edinburgh). So come along! This will be T-Fig’s first time on stage since his illness, so your support would be greatly appreciated.

The album? Well, with a return to feeling good, will be a return to getting that done and dusted. So please watch this space for news.

And Fig gigs? Well we’ve got a lot of practicing to do, and chemotherapy has left T-Fig with numb fingers, which ain’t so good for twangin’ a geetar. But gig we will, when the time is right.

So the Figging continues!
Tim Fig’s fight continues too but HE WILL OVERCOME!

Keep happy, keep healthly.

Lots of love

Hoochie Fig.

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Beck?………………………… Hoochie Fig?

Yo Figgers!

Get a load of this! Beck has a new single out. It’s called “Timebomb” and bears more than a slight similarity to a Hoochie Fig track, called “Timebomb”, which was recorded in the year 2000 in a bedroom in Leith. Now, I’m not accusing Beck of plagiarism – Fig forbid! – but it’s a little… spooky. It is pretty unlikely that he has ever heard the Fig Timebomb, though it is possible. It has been available as a free mp3 download from the Fig web site for sometime – though currently isn’t (apologies for the broken song links on the right!).

Here’s the Hoochie Fig Timebomb: figTunes: Hoochie Fig Timebomb (2000)

Here’s the Beck Timebomb in iTunes: Beck Timebomb (2007).

I’m not that bothered really , except that Beck is likely to make a shed load of money from his Timebomb with a mass marketing machine behind him. If only the Fig had similar support (we try our best between day jobs and nappy changes)!

Those of you who have seen the the Fig live in the last year will know that our Timebomb has more recently been rearranged into an acoustic ( and perhaps a little too theatrical!) Gram Parsons-esque lament. Figsters seam to prefer to call it The Whisky Song. This version will be available to buy soon – oh yes!

What do you think? I’m especially interested in what Beck thinks, if he happens upon this page – so get in touch Mr Hansen! The Fig dig your tunes and you’d probably dig ours. Add comments below.

love and figs,

Tim Fig