07/06/09 The Hi-Life Companion are currently listening to Gene Clark, Madness, The Lucksmiths, The Broken Family Band and Vivaldi.

A few members of The Hi-Life Companion will be playing a short acoustic set at Big Pink Cake's all day special on July 11th at The Cube in Bristol. Jon and Matt from the band will be there, as well as Abi on violin, Anne singing with us and Dave if he can get himself back from the Priddy Folk Festival in time...

Doors will be open from 2pm onwards with djs. We'll be playing from around 3.40 to 4.10, along with The Short Stories, Pete Green, Countryside and Secret Shine The Band will also be playing a couple of rare shows at the beginning of August, in Bristol and London so look out for more details, we'll post them up here as soon as we know more.

The band's debut album Say Yes should be available some time soon through Plastilina Records, as soon as we know a release date we'll post it here.

24/09/08 The Hi-Life Companion are currently listening to: Llyod Cole And The Commotions, Blur, Miles Davis, Pete Green and Dinosaur Jr.

"Jeanie Janus" features on a download-only compilation by Eardrum Music, available today via this link The compilation is free to download, and more details are available at www.eardrumsmusic.com.

The Hi-Life Companion album is finished and art-work pretty much finalised so a release date should follow soon.

We now also have a Facebook Group, just search for The Hi-Life Companion and we'll gladly welcome you.

19.04.08 The Hi-Life Companion are currently listening to: The Auteurs, Townes Van Zandt, Cat Power, Hari And Aino, The Toothaches.

The Hi-Life Companion appear on a couple of compilations available this month. Firstly, 'Take A Leap At The Sun' is on a 7-track CD compilation available to buy now from www.weepop.net called Spring Forward.

'New Cold Star is also coming out on a 4-CD compilation released through Series Two Records. It will be available to buy through www.myspace.com/seriestworecords

The Hi-Life Companion have just played a couple of gigs in Bristol and Midsomer Norton.



Some more photos of the former are available here:

www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32234&l=2f954&id=673706079, courtesy of Rocker

Times Table, live at The Hatchet, is also up on YouTube to view, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi3Y0enIQto

Finally, two members of The Hi-Life Companion will be DJ'ing at Big Pink Cake on the 3rd May from 9.00pm at The Avon Combined Services Club, St Paul's Road, Bristol. Further details at www.myspace.com/bigpinkcake

26/02/08 The Hi-Life Companion are currently listening to: The Young Republic, Doris Day, Electrophonvintage, The Westfield Mining Disaster and The Butterflies Of Love.

The Hi-Life Companion will be playing a couple of rare live dates in the next few months! Catch the band at:

The band might also be playing a couple of open-mic nights in Bristol over the next few weeks, keep an eye out for them at places like Mr Wolfs, as a couple of stray members run through a few songs in an attempt to remember how they go.

There's also a possibility the band will be appearing at some festivals in the summer, and an even greater possibility that an album will finally be finished soon..

Heard that one before....

09/01/08 The Hi-Life Companion are currently listening to: Peter Von Poehl, Panda Bear, The Lucksmiths, Young Galaxy and Richard Hawley.

Happy New Year!

The Hi-Life Companion are on a bit of a roll at the moment - the Cloudberry single is now officially SOLD OUT, 'You're The Greatest' has just been played by Colin Murray on Radio 1 and the band are lining up a rare gig at Big Pink Cake in March. Watch this space for further details!

The album should be finished by the end of the month but then I'm sure you've all heard that before. The band will be rehearsing throughout February and March ready to head out into the world - or more probably Bristol - later this year.

Jon and Matt have been working on a couple of new songs and both 'Hi-Life Theme' and 'The Girl In The Gorilla Suit' are up on the band's myspace page. Details of upcoming gigs will be posted here soon."

24/08/07 The Hi-Life Companion are currently listening to: The Medallists, Fairport Convention, Beirut and The Great Lake Swimmers.

13/04/07 The Hi-Life Companion are currently listening to: Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Dolly Parton, Loney Dear, Micah P Hinson And The Gospel Of Progress and Mallow.

The Hi-Life Companion are releasing a limited edition 4-track album sampler this week, mainly aimed at radio stations and music blogs but if you'd like a copy drop us a line and we'll see what we can do. Which means of course we'll send you a copy free of charge!

It includes finished, mastered versions of 'Times Table', 'Lay Your Head Down', 'You're The Greatest' and 'Say Yes'.

Congratulations also to John, wizard-keyboard player with the 'Companion, who got married last week to the lovely Angela. 'Say Yes' was the soundtrack to the happy couple's first dance, a proud moment for the band and Jon in particular.

12/03/07 The Hi-Life Companion are currently listening to: Surf's Up by The Beach Boys.

Where on earth is that Hi-Life Companion album?! we hear you say.

We hear you loud and clear.

Mixing is still "on-going" and completion date has now been put back to the end of March. And that's being optimisitic. The band are turning down gigs left right and centre in order to finish the final mixes, although there is no evidence that this trend will not simply just continue even when an album finally arrives.

Eventually The Hi-Life Companion might be coerced and cajoled into actually leaving the studio. Those members not overseeing interminable mix after mix of 'The Girl In The Gorilla Suit' are either on honeymoon or having babies, being mugged or going on holiday. Possibly all four together, who knows.

Hopefully there will be some new tunes up for listens on the Myspace page, in the meantime regards from the band and drop us a line if you want to hear how we're getting on.

04/12/06 The Hi-Life Companion are currently listening to: Bright Eyes, Graham Coxon, The Cut-Outs, Coleman Hawkins, Airport Girl, Desmond Dekker and Josef K.

LIMITED EDITION CHRISTMAS CD! The Hi-Life Companion are releasing 50 copies of their pastoral Christmas ditty 'Brockweir Winter Reverie', originally recorded in 2004 with Rob Price, and re-mixed especially for Christmas 2006. It is backed with 'Senor Perris', which just shows what you can accomplish on a £10 Casio keyboard and a glockenspiel. Drop us a line if you'd like a copy, but be quick, whilst stocks last!

'Times Table' is also featured on Mira El Pendulo's C-06 compilation, which can be ordered through www.miraelpendulo.com and following links to Cassette C-06. Its out now, and not many copies left!

'You're The Greatest' has also featured twice recently on US radio, on the Thursday afternoon Stone Cold Bikini show at www.wruw.org

03/10/06 The Hi-Life Companion are currently listening to: OHM, I'm From Barcelona, Peter, Bjorn and John, Camera Obscura, Julie London and Barney Kessell.

The Hi-Life have been in the studio this past week putting the finishing touches to the album, provisionally entitled "Chest Out, Shoulders Back".



No sign of Brockweir Winter Reverie re-emerging in time for Christmas but there are some exciting new tunes. Some of the old ones sound better than before, and some, frankly, sound worse. The band were also rehearsing at the week-end with new drummer Mark and can now just about struggle through five songs. At this stage there are still no plans about taking the band out on the road although there are rumours about The Hi-Life Companion being The Official Wedding Band at a secret location early next year!

01/06/06 The Hi-Life Companion are currently listening to: The Hopeful Monsters, Charlie Kunz, The Spinto Band, Scott Walker, Mr Hopkinsons Computer and El Perro Del Mar.

There are a couple more tunes posted up on the www.myspace.com/thehilifecompanion link available for download. These are only initial mixes and Rob from Airport Girl will be assisting with the full mixing later in the summer. Feel free to browse and comment! Otherwise, the band are back in the studio throughout June and July to add violin and vocal parts ready for a 3-5 track EP release later in the year.

There might even be some band rehearsals after this to see whether anyone has even the least inclination to play some local gigs before the end of the year. Watch this myspace!

02/03/06 The Hi-Life Companion are currently listening to: Sambassadeur, The Crayon Fields, Architecture In Helsinki, Frankie Machine, Espers and Mallow.

The 'Companion have been busy recently, not least recording a dance cover of AC/DC's 'Shot Down In Flames', completing glockenspiel and harmony vocal parts, and preparing for final recording and mastering in late March. The band hope to have some group photos and MP3's ready for the new Myspace site, running at www.myspace.com/thehilifecompanion at this stage as well.

The Hi-Life are also included on www.bristolbands.com and www.bristolrock.co.uk - there should be MP3's up on these sites as well by the end of the month.

There might even be some band rehearsals after this to see whether anyone has even the least inclination to play some local gigs before the end of the year. Watch this myspace!

The Hi-Life Companion will be back in the studio next week in an effort to turn ROCK into INDIE-POP.

Usually, all this requires is the simple addition of hand-claps. In the meantime, Matt is still searching for an appropriate jingle-jangle sound on his fabulous new amp.

Plans are also afoot to re-record their pastoral Christmas classic 'Brockweir Winter Reverie', originally recorded two years ago in Nottingham with Rob from Airport Girl. These were the same sessions
that spawned the now legendary 'A Belgian Love Story', a song loved solely by Rob himself, and a few sappy girls. It is hoped a newer, more '2005' version of 'Brockweir Winter Reverie' will sound less camp, and frankly more in time. Less Magnetic Fields, more Galaxie 500!

21/09/05 The Hi-Life Companion are currently listening to: The Lucksmiths, Tha Fall, Milo & Modesty Blaise

The Hi-Life Companion have been in the studio over the last week recording 'Night Comes Down' and 'The Girl In The Gorilla Suit', amongst others, with Mel's vocals. Mel sounds lovely: a little bit Dubstar, a little bit My Bloody Valentine, a little bit Acorn Antiques. Jon and Matt spent an entire day trying to get the guitar sound right for 'Times Table' but it still sounds like the MC5.

Two members of the Hi-Life Companion are hopefully on the guestlist for the up-coming Hells Bells show, on the same night as Anthony and The Johnsons so we will be hi-tailing it from one end of the musical spectrum to the other. See you there!

17/08/05 The Hi-Life Companion are currently listening to: Lucky Luke, Kaiser Chiefs, The Chemistry Experiment, Catherine Wheel, Death In Vegas

Meanwhile Phelpsy has been occupying his time travelling the world and taking pictures of himself for future album covers. <- An example He's been to Valencia, and has just come back from Malta, where, apparently, he has taken a succession of "rock-themed photographs."

John's new keyboard tutor is none other than the lead singer for Bristol's premier AC/CD tribute act, 'Hells Bells'.

John has already had a couple of lessons and is angling for some free tickets for the rest of us to attend one of their up and coming shows.

We have insisted that John should be able to play Whole Lotta Rosie, using both hands, by August.

And yes he really does look like Angus Young. (The tutor, not Phelpsy)