So, gritting my teeth and pretending that I wasn’t a cliché, I wrote a poem for Laura and delivered it inside a card that didn’t give any money to the rip-off merchants.

How Romantic...

She

 “She has eyes
real fireballs of brown earth
that glitter beneath the sheets.” 

You can read ‘She’ here.

Don’t forget to become a fan on Facebook to see the latest poetry as I publish it; you should also sign up to the mailing list on the website to get e-mail updates whenever I have news!

That’s still largely true, but I quite often get asked what I’m working on and I thought the site should reflect that – that’s why I’m introducing the ‘Coming Soon‘ section!

Here, you’ll be able to read about all of the different projects that are in the pipeline, from fiction and non-fiction to the follow-up album to Nocturne and Revolution, which doesn’t really fit in to any of the categories.

L: Revolution Cover
R: Scarlet Sins Cover 

Here’s what you can read about:

Fiction

• Revolution

Music

• Dipsomania

Non-Fiction

• Inverted Commas
• Journalism
• More Years in the Life
• The Lexicologist’s Handbook

Other

• Scarlet Sins

Did you know that the 1992 edition of The Oxford Modern English Dictionary has over 130,000 definitions and over 90,000 entries? No? Me neither – at least, not until I started reading it as research for The Lexicologist’s Handbook.

My Nemesis: The Oxford English Dictionary

Almost a year and 1,275 pages later, I feel like I’ve learned a lot. For a start, I’ve populated the manuscript with 500 pages, despite the fact that (at the time of writing) I’ve only defined up to ‘Imperious‘ and need to write the appendices afterwards!

So what is ‘The Lexicologist’s Handbook’? Glad you asked – it’s a dictionary of weird and wonderful words, from ‘abortifacient‘ to ‘zenith‘. I’m hoping that it’ll be an inspiration to other writers while also satisfying humanity’s basic need for knowledge and an expanded vocabulary. I’ll try to finish writing and editing the manuscript by the end of the year, so make sure you put it on your Christmas lists!

Oh, and by the way – in case you were wondering, I wouldn’t recommend actually reading the dictionary unless you’re insane. Read The Lexicologist’s Handbook instead, it’ll save time and (hopefully) entertain you along the way!

What’s the longest book that you’ve ever read?

There’ll be no charge for admission and so there’s no excuse for you not to come down and show your support! Five solo acts and a band perform, with great food on offer as well.

Keep the date free in your diary and follow me on Facebook and Twitter for further updates ahead of the show, and check back here afterwards for the write-up and set-list.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on this clip of me performing ‘It Won’t Be Long‘ at The Good Ship in Kilburn a couple of weeks ago:

Dane Cobain – It Won’t Be Long (Live at The Good Ship)

I’ve performed there before – I played there last summer and had a great time, so I was thrilled when they agreed to welcome me back. I wasn’t expecting the snow, though!

At the Good Ship Tonight...

Dane Cobain

After a quick line check, I stepped up to the stage to run through a set that included Motorway, In to the Jungle and Shine. Here’s the set-list:

1. It Won’t Be Long
2. In to the Jungle
3. The Lover I Despise
4. In a State
5. Shine
6. House of the Rising Sun
7. Motorway

You can also check out these videos of my performance:

L: In a State
R: Shine

L: The Lover I Despise
R: It Won’t Be Long

Alaska Campus

Up next, Alaska Campus whizzed through a set that reminded me and Laura of You Me At Six. They were (relatively) young guys with a lot of energy and their fans gathered close to the stage as they stormed through their lively set.

You can find Alaska Campus online on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and PureVolume.

Pistols at Dawn

They were followed by Pistols at Dawn, who were quite folky and seemed like my kind of band. They had some catchy tunes but they were pretty delicate and risked being overpowered by the full band. I would’ve liked to see their singer break up the set by performing a couple of tunes alone. Still, they had some fantastic harmonies and ‘Snow‘ was the perfect song for the evening.

Check out the Pistols at Dawn website or visit them on Facebook and Twitter.

Pistols at Dawn at The Good Ship

Waxwork

Waxwork were up next – they had great stage presence and a heap of fans who were pretty drunk by the time they took to the stage. I’d had a few pints myself and kept ducking out for cigarettes, but I liked the sound they had – no surprise really, they list their influences as The Beatles, Neil Young, Nirvana and The Smiths, among others. You could really tell from their sound, too!

Check them out on Facebook, SoundCloud and MySpace.

Amberland

The last band to perform were called Amberland, but we only caught their first few songs because we had to leave early to trek home through the snow. As it turns out, we should’ve stayed! They seemed decent enough – I tried to check them out online but all I could find was a website which is still under construction.

Check that out here, though!

After the show…

After checking out Amberland, we (literally) made tracks and headed back to Kilburn station, only to discover it had closed early because of the weather. We caught a bus back to Marylebone, but the last train had left by the time we arrived and we were stranded in the snow.

Stranded in the snow...

Katie managed to get the bus back to Roehampton, but me and Laura had to brave the weather and wait for Marylebone to open, hitting underground car parks, doorways and wherever else we could find that might keep us warm. You wouldn’t believe how jealous we were when we spotted what the Marks & Spencer staff at Marylebone were getting paid to do…

Night staff at M&S Marylebone

Anyway, after checking out the Travelodge and the posh hotel opposite the station, we discovered that everywhere was fully booked and we were facing the rest of the night out on the street. A taxi back to High Wycombe would’ve cost £90! Luckily, Mr. and Mrs. McIntosh were kind enough to drive out to us at 3:30 AM in the snow to pick us up from outside the station and take us back to Feltham.

We don’t have much luck getting back from gigs, do we?

This new poem was written, as the title suggests, after waking up from a bad dream and has a sense of angst that reminds me of my earlier work. It’s about a certain type of woman and how they hand their body around like it’s a pen for writers to borrow.

On Waking from a Nightmare

“There will always be girls
you should’ve fucked;
rainbow-haired
or sitting at some bus stop,
staring at the floor.” 

You can read ‘On Waking from a Nightmare‘ here.

Don’t forget to become a fan on Facebook to see the latest poetry as I publish it; you should also sign up to the mailing list on the website to get e-mail updates whenever I have news!

After updating the Sociabull channel at work today, I decided the time was right to update my own channel with a custom background, avatar and more!

As well as making the channel more visual, I’ve sorted my uploads in to playlists – one for demos, one for live performances and one for cover versions. I’ve also added a featured video, (currently my performance of It Won’t Be Long at The Good Ship), which will be rotated over time to give my best videos further exposure.

Dane Cobain – It Won’t Be Long (Live at The Good Ship)

Don’t forget to subscribe to DaneIsLive to receive updates when I upload new videos and to check out my older, now defunct channel for videos from ‘back in the day‘.

Thanks for reading!

The song, the first tune I’ve written in 2012, is vaguely autobiographical and deals with hypocrisy, tears and forgetfulness. Here’s a rough demo:

And for those of you who like to sing along at home, here are the lyrics:

1993, I was bored in a world of hypocrisy, 
but any day now, I shall be released.
When she spoke to me, I wept like the branches of a willow tree
’cause I know something she don’t know. 

But I spoke too soon, I was four and I was foreign in a stranger’s room,
I’m not quite as old as I used to be.
Nowadays when I play my songs, when I’m drunk on the stage the words come out all wrong,
and I know I’ll never be Morrissey.

And I’m not quite a stranger, but stranger things have happened
and I swear they’ll happen again.
And I know I’m kinda lazy, but babe you know it’s crazier
to be your own best friend.

Don’t forget to sign up to the mailing list, subscribe by RSS or check back later for future updates including the write-up and set-list of my show at The Good Ship and a new poem called ‘On Waking from a Nightmare‘.

The gig itself was lovely, a short unplugged set in the front room of the pub. And when I say unplugged, I mean unplugged – we saw a classical guitar and an acoustic bass played through a small amp on a stool, but most played without.

I’ve played at The Cavendish Arms before – last summer, I played in the back room opening for a bunch of bands. I mainly remember somebody joining in with a tambourine when I was performing Mary Jane and the way that they had lit candles poking out of empty Jack Daniels’ bottles.

Things haven’t changed, except for the better. There was a great turnout including loads of musicians, and the quiet sets brought everyone together around the fireplace, talking between sets or over a cigarette.

Laura eating chips and drinking champagne from a plastic bottle on the way, as you do.

I liked the guy that was on first – I don’t remember his name but I have a link to him on MySpace as Paying Pablo. He had a Thom Yorke-y vibe to him and played with a cast on his hand – I’m told that he burned it. Check out Paying Pablo on Myspace here.

Another guy with some decent tunes was Pete Gioconda – he’s kind of a mix between Johnny Rotten and Bob Dylan. Be sure to check out his Facebook page.

We also had this guy – he’s called Gennaro apparently. All I remember is that he was a fiend on the classical acoustic guitar and was very Italian. I don’t have any links, but you should check out this video that Laura took:

I was on near the end and had to borrow Paying Pablo‘s guitar because my case disintegrated after my gig at Lock 17. Despite this, and the beer, I think I did alright. Here’s the set-list, as far as I can remember it:

1. It Won’t Be Long
2. In to the Jungle
3. Motorway
4. In a State
5. The Lover I Despise
6. House of the Rising Sun

You can check out some of the videos from the night on YouTube or watch them below:

L: The Lover I Despise
R: In to the Jungle

L: In a State
R: House of the Rising Sun

We had a fail on the way back, though – we arrived at Marylebone six minutes early for our train, only to discover it had left. Worse, it was the last train back – we had to go to King’s Cross and then get a train back to Maidenhead, followed by a taxi. Made it back home at 2 AM on a work day…

Life’s been hectic since my gig at The Cavendish Arms in Stockwell last Wednesday – I’ve been working, scheming and listening to the UK’s Mark Zuckerberg.

The write-up from the Cavendish Arms gig will be up soon – first, I have news to announce!

I’m set to perform this Saturday at The Good Ship in Kilburn – I’m on at eight so be sure you arrive in time. It’s £5 entry with music from Amberland, Waxwork, Pistols at Dawn and Aleska Campus. Make sure that you say that you’re there to see me at the door!

Here’s a link to the event on Facebook.

I also have further gigs in the pipeline and some new poetry to share, so watch out for that too!

I’ll leave you with this – a shot of me on my last visit to The Good Ship. I wear a shirt now (sometimes).

Dane Cobain at The Good Ship

See you there!