You’re Gonna Get Marmalised! Preorder my kids’ album now!


’You’re Gonna Get Marmalised! is an 11 track album for kids and grown-up kids alike. It’s packed with catchy tunes about daydreams, nonsense and adventure, and comes with a full-colour illustrated songbook in its own DVD case.

It will be released on 16th August 2012. To make sure you get your hands on a First Edition, you’ll need to pre-order here:

http://cosmo4kids.bandcamp.com/ or www.cosmo4kids.co.uk. Facebook event here!
You’ll also get an instant download of all of the songs, whether you go for the digital download or the actual CD!

Here’s the video that goes with ‘Don’t Tread in the Doggy Do’.

 

Kicking Back In Austerty Britain Tour 2012 – 2013


DATES TO FOLLOW – CAN YOU HELP?*

Right! Here’s the story! Gail and I are going on tour in the autumn/winter- and we need your help! Can YOU:
*suggest a venue near you for us to play?
*organise us a show, (GWAN!!!)
*have us to play in your house????
It should be a whole lotta fun! Drop me an email: cosmoinnit@talk21.com or the Facebook event is here.
Ta! Cosmo
Here’s what the tour is about:

Kicking back In Austerity Britain Tour 2012 is a night of hard-hitting, socially engaged acoustic music. Two performers and activists from the UK, Cosmo and Gail Something-Else AKA Muddy Summers and the Dirty Field Whores, present a show with songs, story-telling and visuals, as well as discussion and literature about the various campaigns they have been involved in.

As the UK reels from the relentless onslaught of government cuts and institutional corruption, protests have mushroomed nationally. Globally, revolutions and uprisings have swept the board. We want to share our tales about these, as well as hear from you!

Cosmo
Edinburgh and Hay festival, award-winning agit-singer
“A cross between Woody Guthrie and rapper Jay-Z, Cosmo is a folksinger of our times with a veritable hive of bees in his bonnet.”
- Rob Adams, Edinburgh Fringe Review
- Album of the month – Spillers records
- “*****” – Miniature Music press.
http://cosmoguitar.net/

Ms. Something-Else
“Well constructed, played and concise and to the point. In short excellent. Good luck with this!”
- JC Carroll, The Members
“Here’s what the nation will be singing when the Tory scum get what’s coming to them.”
- Ian Bone
http://muddysummers.co.uk/

Onwards and upwards…..

Last week, I went to see local Cardiff legends KilnAboy last Thursday. The craic was 90 and the gates of alcohol heaven opened. It was like a re-run of a great night down that den of iniquity known as the Old Howardians Rugby club, which is now demolished. (Not same way as its clientele used to be on a regular basis, however.) Having spent a large part of the year so far off the stage and getting Picket Line Party together, the gig definitely felt like blowing the cobwebs away. The question is, what now?

The UK government continues its relentless attacks on all of us. There is even talk of abolishing public holidays! Whatever next?? Nothing would surprise me. Coupled with this, the state’s response to all the protests last year has been harsh, leaving many people wondering if fighting back in that way is worth it. And yet we’re in a double bind, because if we don’t, none of the main parties will do anything different. Arghhh!!! You may find yourself singing this rather a lot:

Personally, I don’t think we have an awful lot of choice in the matter – fight back we must. But it does appear that the lull in all the activity last year is taking longer than expected to get over. I’m sure this will change, though ….. ;-)

In the meantime, I am looking forward to going out and gigging at some festivals in May, as well as recording my mate Ukulele Dave. The dates are on my gigs page. The plan then is to go on a US tour in the summer. If you can help out, please drop me a line. As for April, I’m keeping quiet, but watch this space. You may be surprised what comes at the end of it!

Finally, have I been working for the Guardian? Have I f@ck! But I put my first piece of electronic music together which name-checked a Guardian phone app. The reason I put it out there that I had been commissioned to do it by them was so that you’d click the link on the Soundcloud track and read this blog. Don’t believe everything you read, you dummies! (P.S. Picket Line Party didn’t get Album of the Week in the Sunday Telegraph! That was an April Fools, and I am now Minister of Disinformation). Hope you enjoy!

Album Launch!!!!

Regular readers will be aware of this album – and now it’s all go! The book and CD is just about done for the printers! There will be a t-shirt! And a badge! You can really help me out by pre-ordering here: http://cosmoinnit.bandcamp.com/. Many thanks!

There is going to be a launch party at the City Arms, Cardiff on Wednesday 28th March 2012 starting at 8pm. It’s free in! The Facebook event for it is here (CLICK!) There are festie dates going up all the time. I’m planning on a few key gigs in June and then a US tour in the summer. The autumn and winter will see a full-on UK and Europe tour. See you on the road!

And here is the press release:

After years of criss-crossing the country on tour, folk-punk-hiphop geezer Cosmo has a wake up call after he wakes up at a festival covered in sick. It’s summer 2010, the Tories have got into bed with the LibDems and begun a vicious attack on ordinary people’s living standards. The question is: how to fight back? Armed with a guitar and a load of attitude, Cosmo takes off on the road again, playing at protests, picket lines, parties and street corners, seeing how ordinary people start to wake up and resist.

On the way, he manages to get a gig at a LibDem post-conference shindig, start flamewars with BBC Radio DJ Adam Walton and make an accidental appearance in a Daily Mail photo-shoot. He encounters undercover cops, plays at a royal wedding boat party and manages to get his antifascist anthem F@ck the BNP into the Amazon charts – ahead of some Simon and Garfunkel tunes, (much to his mum’s delight!).

In addition, he writes and records songs and keeps a diary of his travels, putting them up online to freely download and share. Starting with localised demos, his account twists and turns into the global uprising that becomes known as Occupy.The resultant furore is a musical rollercoster of an album, taking in folk, punk, music hall, hip-hop, bluegrass, Monty Python and even the new genre of country protest! Lyrically the songs range from historical struggles such as the Music Hall War of 1907, to the hilarious send-up of the far-right English Defence League – and much more.

And you thought protest music was dead? Think again! It’s alive and kicking, genre-defying, hungover and pissed off! Picket Line Party is free-to-download, but is also available as a digipak CD, plus this book complete with lyrics, chords, blog entries, photos etc. Oh, and a t-shirt, too. Who says filesharing harms music sales? (Adam Walton does, and Cosmo has bet him that if he sells out of his initial run by the end of June, Mr. Walton will have to eat his words!)

http://www.cosmoguitar.net / http://www.picketlineparty.com

“George Formby-style rants against the far-right and other musical hectoring!” Guardian

“Workfare is appalling but not as bad as that bloke singing over there.” Some bloke at an anti-workfare demo outside Tescos listening to Cosmo