Attila/Seagulls Ska single ‘Tom Hark (We Want Falmer!)’ released today......

Morning all, and happy New Year.
Our single is released today!
If you feel like helping a motley crew of old ska skins and punks get into the Top 40 next Sunday – please buy a copy if you haven’t already, some time in the next 5 days (before next Saturday) or if you have buy an extra one and give it to a mate! Below is the press release, explaining how this helps our club
Brighton & Hove Albion in our battle for our new stadium. Please forward it to anyone you think might be interested, and if you’re a football fan please post it on your club’s message board...Over to you!

Cheers, Attila

BRIGHTON FANS HEADING FOR THE CHARTS!

‘The whole thing’s daft
We don’t know why
We have to laugh
Or else we’ll cry
Our ground’s too small
The costs too high
Without Falmer
Our club will die’

‘Tom Hark (We Want Falmer)’ by Seagulls Ska is released today (Monday January 3rd 2005) having been at number one in both the amazon.co.uk Hot Pre-Release Chart and the Best Selling Singles list at hmv.co.uk for most of the last three weeks, outselling Elvis among many others! On release day it was number 2 at futurechart.co uk, the website which predicts what’s going into the Top 40.

It’s Albion Poet In Residence Attila the Stockbroker’s rewrite of the Piranhas’ classic football hit recorded by a bunch of ska-loving Brighton fans, reclaiming the song for the Piranhas’ home town with new lyrics supporting Brighton & Hove Albion’s five year campaign for our new stadium at Falmer. All profits from the single will go to our cash-strapped club’s Alive & Kicking Fund.

The single is released on the Falmer For All label, manufactured and distributed by our main sponsors Skint Records. As things stand the plan is well on track - the plan being to hit the Top 40 in the Sunday following release (9th Jan) and gain extra publicity for our stadium campaign, one month before the public enquiry restarts....

The single is available from all national branches of HMV and Virgin, from many independent stores in the Brighton area including Rounder Records in Brighton Square (The Lanes) tel 01273 325440 and globally online via hmv.co.uk and amazon.co.uk; click on the links to order on line - all sales count towards the chart

Seven years since the Goldstone Ground was sold behind our backs by uncaring moneymen, seven years of fans’ campaigns - and and still Brighton & Hove Albion don’t have a proper home. This is another chapter in the story of the Albion supporters’ battle to save our club.....

Most of you will know that I am the Poet in Residence, PA announcer and DJ at Brighton & Hove Albion FC,the football club I have supported all my life.
Many of you, I know, enjoy my stuff despite the football, not because of it.
But in this email I’m asking for everyone’s support, as friends of popular culture, whether or not you like football.
And it will be a laugh! Here’s what’s happening.
(If you don’t know the story of our battle to save the Albion already and want to know what you’re supporting, read the bit at the end of this email.)

Firstly: I am doing a marathon non-stop SPONSORED GIG in aid of Brighton & Hove Albion FC’s ‘ Keep the Albion Alive & Kicking Fund’ next Sunday (November 28th) at my local, the Evening Star in Surrey Street, Brighton, 2 minutes’ walk from Brighton Station.
http://www.eveningstarbrighton.co.uk
I’ll be doing all the material I have ever done, 24 years’ worth, and it will be great to see you at any time. It’s the first time I have ever done this....

Secondly: on January 3rd ‘Seagulls Ska’ are releasing a new version of the Piranhas’ classic ska football hit ‘Tom Hark’ with new lyrics penned and sung by yours truly, in an Otway style attempt to take our campaign for our new stadium at Falmer into the Top 10. It will be marketed by our main club sponsor, Skint Records. More below.

THE SINGLE:

The plan is simple. In the first week of January, right after the Xmas holiday, very few singles are released by the major companies and you need to sell relatively few to get in the Top 20. So we aim to get Brighton’s campaign for our new stadium into the charts and onto Top Of The Pops with the backing of our club sponsor Skint Records, thousands of Albion fans, and loads of other people from all over the country! Hopefully you!
To keep down distribution costs the single will be available at 10 designated shops in Sussex and ONLINE via HMV Online and Amazon.com
Presales will start early in December and we aim to get as many presales as possible – the more the presales, the bigger the impact. When presales are ready to start, I’ll let everyone know where you can order it if you want to.

Here are the sleeve notes which explain it all:

1. TOM HARK (We Want Falmer!)
(Bopeape/Baine/Grover)
2. SUSSEX BY THE SEA (Singalong Version)
(Traditional)
3.SUSSEX BY THE SEA (Instrumental Version)
(Traditional)
4. ROLL UP FOR THE DONKEY DERBY....
(Baine)

A few weeks ago we had the idea of reclaiming the Piranhas’ national football ska hit ‘Tom Hark’ for Brighton with new lyrics in support of our stadium , with the dual aim of raising money for the Albion’s Alive & Kicking Fund and trying to get the Falmer For All Campaign into the Top 20! The Piranhas were Brighton through and through, in the forefront of the local punk scene in the late Seventies and early Eighties. Many of us have very fond memories of their gigs at legendary Brighton venues like the Vault and the Alhambra and it has always seemed quite ironic to me to hear their song blasting out from other clubs’ PA systems and chanted by opposing fans.

So as part of the campaign for our new stadium at Falmer our new version of ‘Tom Hark’ will be released on January 3rd along with a seriously ska version of our beloved anthem ‘Sussex By The Sea’ - and the alternative 1990 Cup Final song for our rivals ‘Chrystal’ Palace!

THE EXPLANATION

In 1997 Brighton’s Goldstone Ground was sold by an opportunistic moneyman called Archer, who gained control of the majority shareholding in a cynical asset stripping operation. We played our last game there on April 26 of that year. I, and many others, battled hard and long to get rid of Archer and his cronies and install a board who loved the club. We eventually succeeded, with Dick Knight, who is a true fan and a great chairman, taking the helm, but our ground had gone.

For 2 years we played ‘home’ matches at Gillingham, 70 miles away: it was at that point that I became PA announcer and DJ, to try and bring a sense of ‘home’ to the dedicated fans who would travel 140 miles to watch a very poor side, with no money, at the bottom of the whole League.
Huge pressure from thousands of fans forced the local council to find us a temporary home in Brighton, at an athletics stadium, Withdean, in the leafy suburbs of our city. It has a capacity of 7,000. We’ve been there for the last 5 years. It’s nowhere near big enough. Every week, the club loses money. Years ago we made a planning application for
a new stadium near Brighton University at Falmer, the only feasible place in this crowded area – bounded, remember, by the sea and the Downs – with overwhelming support from the local community, 66% supporting us in a referendum on the issue. But pressure from local residents meant it was called in for a public enquiry and the planning process has dragged on, and on, and on, costing the club over £2 million while we struggle on in a ridiculously small stadium, losing money every week. We suspect that the local NIMBYs are just trying to delay things until the club goes bust. Desperate for funds, we have launched the ‘Keep the Albion Alive & Kicking Campaign’ where fans donate/raise money to keep the club afloat. The final part of the planning enquiry starts in February, after which there must be a decision – that’s why we are putting out the single in January, to gain maximum publicity.
Please support us!

Attila