Nov 222016
Nov 172016
With thanks to Rob Adams.
Louis Durra had a ready-made response when Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature last month. The Berlin-based Californian pianist, who brings his trio to the Blue Lamp on Thursday, November 24, has a very cool, groovy take on Tangled Up in Blue, one of the stand-out songs from Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks album.
So he was able to slot it into his live set instantly as a dedication to the new Nobel laureate.
The opening track on Durra’s 2012 release, The Best of All Possible Worlds, Tangled Up in Blue contributed to the pianist’s unlikely elevation to American college radio sensation. In a way reminiscent of Ramsey Lewis in the 1960s, Durra’s jazz piano trio versions of Dylan, Bob Marley, Alanis Morisette and Radiohead songs took a trick with deejays and became part of the soundtrack to student life across the U.S..
A follow-up, Rocket Science, released later the same year, made similar waves with its explorations of the Beatles, White Stripes, KT Tunstall and traditional Mexican and French Canadian material.
Durra is by no means the first jazz musician to explore Radiohead’s repertoire, for example, or the first to cover pop hits of the day. That’s an idea as old as jazz itself. Durra, however, takes it further than most, even finding jazz piano trio repertoire and inspiration in Scottish electronica band Boards of Canada.
“I’m not on a ‘say no to the mainstream jazz repertoire’ soapbox,” says Durra.
“I’m just as likely to play music by Cedar Walton, Hank Jones, Joe Henderson, Annie Ross or Brad Mehldau as, say, Snoop Dog. Jazz was once described as the sound of surprise and it’s my aim to make each piece have something unexpected about it, in the nicest possible way.”
Durra’s investigation of the wider popular music canon – his most recent album, Chromakey, has a typically understated exploration of country-noir singer Gillian Welch’s Orphan Girl – stemmed from his accepting a three-nights-a-week residency in a Los Angeles restaurant.
After years of playing an accompanying role, mostly in theatre, and having made a couple of jazz albums that sold disappointingly, Durra was in danger of losing interest. His residency, which presently expanded to four nights a week, allowed him to rediscover the hunger that had led to him turning onto jazz in his teens.
With four to five hours a night to fill he determined that he, his rhythm section and the bar staff and clientele alike wouldn’t get bored with the same tunes being played on rotation. So he worked up a repertoire of some two hundred items, ranging from jazz standards to songs by the Ting Tings, Radiohead and songwriter-rapper Ke$ha.
The restaurant’s customers liked what Durra calls his oddball pop covers. So he recorded a selection of them, gave the album to a publicist and found himself with a hit on his hands. When he then decided to investigate another market, he booked himself onto the Edinburgh Fringe and promptly won an award, a Herald Angel, one of the much coveted statuettes that Glasgow-based newspaper The Herald awards for performing excellence during Edinburgh’s festival season.
On his way back to California after his second Edinburgh Fringe run Durra stopped off in Berlin, loved the feel of the city and decided to move there. Wanderlust and the lure of the Parisian jazz scene will see him relocate to the French capital in the not too distant future but his raison d’etre as a musician remains as it was during his restaurant residency
“I want to connect with the public,” he says.
“And the best way to do that, the best way to draw them into my way of playing is to give them something they recognise every now and then. Just because you’re playing pop tunes doesn’t mean that you can’t make them artistic and expressive. Besides, there’s poetry in Bob Dylan’s music – it’s official.”
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Nov 102016
By Chris Ramsay, Forviemedia.
‘One thinks of it all as a dream’ is a play written by Alan Bissett and directed by Sacha Kyle. It charts the 1967 release of Pink Floyd’s début album, ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn’ and the erratic behaviour of frontman Syd Barrett. Is he having a drug-induced breakdown, or is he playing an elaborate joke on the band and the music industry?
The play takes the form of dreamlike sequences and vignettes; occasionally it verges on pantomime.
I took loads of LSD and it was nothing like what the play shows, but that’s how acid and theatrical interpretation should be.
I saw the Floyd live a couple of times at festivals back then – that and the fact I once spent a weekend in Roger Waters’ Mum’s house made aficionados of the band jealous. These fanatics carried Floyd albums around with them. I told them that I thought Floyd was a great singles band, that I was totally wasted during my late teens and beyond. It confirmed what they suspected – I was the one with a problem, the wayward idiot winding them up.
In ‘One thinks of it all as a dream’, acid guru and Scottish psychiatrist RD Laing puts in a couple of surprise appearances.
“How do you know it’s Syd who has the problem?” he asks Roger Waters.
This poignant play was specially commissioned by the Mental Health Foundation for the Scottish Mental Health Arts & Film Festival. It was co-produced with A Play, A Pie and A Pint, Traverse Theatre, Òran Mór and Aberdeen Performing Arts. The hour-long play manages to paint a vivid portrait of a revolutionary period in pop music and to sketch a character study of one of its most influential, enigmatic and complex figures. It stars Euan Cuthbertson as Syd Barrett.
Syd was the principal songwriter behind ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn’, a masterpiece, and he wrote a handful of strong early singles that helped define the psychedelic age. Syd however was happiest when he was painting. Unlike many of his contemporaries – Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones, Janis Joplin – Roger ‘Syd’ Barrett survived that era; he died in July 2006 aged 60.
‘One thinks of it all as a dream’ was performed at the excellent Lemon Tree. A Play, A Pie and a Pint is great value for £11, and the format has whetted the appetite of Aberdeen’s culture vultures – the venue was packed for the matinee performance on November 4th. The audience was principally of a certain vintage: I didn’t spot anyone having acid flashbacks.
Alan Bissett is a playwright, novelist and performer who grew up in Falkirk, where he has a street named after him. He won the Glenfiddich Scottish Writer of the Year award in 2011. Alan and Sacha Kyle are one of Scotland’s most acclaimed writer-director teams, creators of Edinburgh Festival Fringe hits such as The Moira Monologues, The Pure, The Dead and the Brilliant and Ban this Filth! Sacha’s recent credits include Turbo Folk and What the F**kirk?
Related reading:
http://www.sachakyle.com Sacha’s website
https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/alan-bissett/david-maclennan-portrait-of-life-in-theatre Alan Bissett article – ‘Portrait of a life in theatre’
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Nov 082016
Aberdeen Voice’s Fred Wilkinson and Suzanne Kelly spend a night at the Theatre; Krakatoa erupted (glad to get that bad pun out of the way) with possibly its most high voltage show and hyper audience ever. Photographed beautifully by Dod Morrison.
Feel sorry for yourself if you didn’t get into Theatre of Hate’s sold-out show if you love music, because it was one of those nights that will go down as legendary in Aberdeen’s live music history.
Theatre of Hate returned to The Granite City after a 30-something year absence touring new album, Kinshi, and we all went mad for it.
Theatre of Hate is Kirk Brandon (lead vocals, guitar, otherworldly stage moves); Adrian Portas (guitars; tonight, looming on a platform over the others on stage); Stan Stammers (bass guitarist whose playing flows like fine wine); John Lennard (saxophone – the most expressive you’d hope to hear) and percussionist Chris Bellcafe giving it his all.
The band formed in the early 80s, eventually morphing into Spear of Destiny. In 2014 they appeared for the first time in decades with a new EP of four diverse and powerful tracks which eventually led to…
Kinshi is Japanese for prohibited. The album artwork shows samurai warriors whose world and way of life was soon to be outlawed. While the samurai ways passed into legend, their warrior tradition persists – read into that what you will. The four songs from the EP included ‘Venice’ – a haunting/haunted ballroom love/break-up waltz.
The pre-apocalypse, politically volatile ‘Day of the Dog’s’ lyrics ask questions of East and West in terms of dogma and suffering:
“Breaking point / The Gateway to the West / Unhinged, broken / Flood makes the journey / Meanwhile warmongers / 7th century / Thirst for blood / All in the name of” (with ‘God’ being the unspoken name I conclude).
It makes me question our volatile world situation (God – if you’re reading feel free to weigh in).
It also makes me wonder why, when there is so much that needs to be said today, mainstream music shies away from reality and goes with safe, bankable lyrics and anodyne acts, or pointlessly salacious and pointlessly high-budget tracks (‘Bitch better have my money’ – thank you Rihanna). But I digress.
My favourite song from the EP and the album is ‘Slave’ – hypnotic rhythm leads to a great crescendo of guitar/bass/drum/sax with Brandon’s vocals riding the curl of this rich wave of sound.
Theatre of Hate have this amazing sax and guitar layering over bass/drum no outfit I know can approach. The song is a surprisingly accurate insight into the pressures on women to conform to the media’s Barbie-doll beauty ideal – physically impossible of course. ToH’s ‘Slave’ offers further keen observations on the thoughts an ageing starlet or model might have; am astonished by these insights into women’s issues.
Slave’s lyrics start off suggesting a portrait of a self-absorbed ageing beauty
“She woke this morning / put on slave paint / living the life of glamour / the Hollywood land ideal… Self love and pity from a bottle / the media play the woman game.”
Then Brandon’s lyrics widen out to perhaps the moral of the song (well, for me anyway), as he invokes the famous Rubaiyat of Omar Kayyam:
“The moving finger writes; and, having writ, moves on: nor all thy piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.”
Brandon writes:
“No one can stop the clock that ticks / Or halt the calendar page / Fear itself, has made her slave / She’s the fashion, of her age – SLAVE.”
Ten points for including a beautifully illustrated booklet with lyrics with this album, and another ten points for Theatre of Hate for showing such understanding of the pressures the media and society put on women, particularly physically beautiful women to remain beautiful while time makes the feat impossible – it makes some of them slaves to vanity. ‘Slave’ is hypnotic; the way it builds is gorgeous – the album version is beautifully worked – and I can’t stop listening to it.
Back to the rest of the album. ‘Mr Mendacity’ is illustrated with an image of everyone’s least-favourite POTUS candidate, Mr Drumpf.
This timely piece of protest music is going down very well with anti-Trump factions (I wish it were on Youtube or somewhere I could share it more – hint hint) and reminds us what a good protest song can and should do.
“He’s got an ego, the size of his house / He’s got the money and he’s got a mouth / Flannels everyone he’s talking so loud / Suitably self impressed, working his muppet crowd” – and there in a few lines is a summary of a man no one should be taken in by.
There is a dub version of the album as well; I can’t wait to hear it. The project was crowdfunded, and contributors chose from a range of rewards and enjoyed periodic updates and tracks. Too late to be a crowd funder, but it’s not too late to order Kinshi, and from the look of how they were flying off the merchandise stall last night, looks like some of you are way ahead of me on the point.
The Krakatoa Show
There is a faithful core of people in Aberdeen who follow Spear of Destiny and Theatre of Hate; this first appearance in Aberdeen (last was apparently 30 years ago in Fusion) was highly anticipated, and there was an energy and enthusiasm in the crowded bar that night before the show started.
‘Black Irony’ was the first song of this set which balanced old and iconic ToH pieces perfectly.
The set was long and must have been gruelling, not least for Brandon whose operatic range and preternatural ability to sustain notes is well known – but it also all seemed to end far too soon. Twenty songs – or was it twenty-two? – filled the venue, and the crowd were ecstatic.
‘Black Irony’ is a dark, sinister indictment of western values :
“I believe in Micky Mouse, Snow White and the 7 dwarves / Snowden & Assange / I believe in Dr Strange”
Brandon menacingly intones; the sax is sultry, more than a bit sordid. Splendid work, and the crowd is responding to the new material, with many people already aware of the lyrics.
Towards the start of the set are ‘Americanos’ and ‘The Hop’ – clearly favourite songs of many people here. After ‘Ukraine Girl’ from the new album with its 1960s feel beat, things are calmed down with another haunting number this time classic ‘Love is as Ghost’. Loss, love, suicide, and pain in the lyrics are beautifully matched by the music, and the sax is mournful. Sticking to the dark side of romance is the classic (but angrier) Incinerator. The audience is very much there with them.
‘Conquistador’ then brings the set to ‘Mr Mendacity’ – and for a while I’m lost from my attempts to make notes on the night to just enjoying it. Floating along one moment, jolted then by ‘Legion’ and the chanting crowd, I’m enjoying the ride; we all are. Someone’s said to me at the end of ‘Legion’,
“That was a life-changing experience.”
The next thing I know Kirk’s getting everyone to sing ‘Original Sin’ with him. The fever pitch in Krakatoa is like no other night I’ve spent there and everyone’s shouting ‘Do you Believe in the Westworld’ at the top of their lungs before the final encore, ‘Propaganda’.
Perhaps people think first of Kirk, Stan and Lennard – the original ToH members.
This night would not have hit the heights without Adrian Portas’ talents and Farrant’s percussion. Watching and hearing Portas is a pleasure; wish I could have seen more of Farrant behind the crowd and the guitars – but we all felt and heard his work (must be exhausting mentally as well as physically).
Verdict – virtuoso (yeah an overused word) performances from all, with every member of ToH having moments when they particularly shone as individuals, and a night of wholly original music performed with conviction and spirit of a kind we rarely enjoy. There was one passage where Stan Stammers was remarkable, but as my notes were eventually covered in beer, I can’t quite tell you which bit I’d been particularly struck by.
During one moment of Zeppelin’s film ‘The Song Remains The Same’ Plant is backstage at Madison Square Garden and comes out with an odd statement:
“This is a song that sometimes takes a building in a manner which our forefathers were very used to. Did you hear that? It’s right though, isn’t it? That feeling that’s left everybody, the cosmic energy! Everybody goes yeah! Bash!”
I never knew what he was on about until this show.
Don’t take my word for it:
“They’ve disposed of traditional structures – chorus, middle 8. When you get it, you get it. I can’t predict what they’re going to do next. What an excellent night.” – Fred Wilkinson (Toxik Ephex, Aberdeen Voice editor, said while clutching his copy of Kinshi. Fred also wanted to mention how spot on he found the sound engineer’s work tonight)
“It was triumphant return to Aberdeen for TOH after 34 years and good to see the Aberdeen people come out and support a local venue that is keeping music alive” – Dod Morrison, photographer
“Aberdeen was brilliant” – Jayne Pirie
On A personal note:
I wish I’d made it to more of these dates; it’s a genuine regret as I’ve read such glowing reports about the shows. Fred Wilkinson wasn’t going to stay at first (he was there for a meeting earlier in the evening, but he was persuaded, and wound up very happy he remained, although when I pointed out the Trump artwork in the Kinshi lyrics, he had a funny turn.
Admission – I was a miserable, useless failed bass student; no matter how hard I practiced scales and lines, whatever I played sounded mechanical and stilted. So it was absolute thrill listening to Stan Stammers make such fluid, melodious, emotive music.
Another admission – I usually don’t like saxophone in rock such as Springsteen – Clements was a huge talent I admit – but there was always something so wholesome, American, clean-cut about most sax in rock that it just left me cold. Lennard’s playing is as far removed from the kind of sax I find cloying as is possible to get, and I loved it. Lastly I hope Hen is recovering well, and Craig Adams – thanks for yet another great night.
Let’s not leave it so long next time please. Encore.
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Oct 272016
By Duncan Harley, and with thanks to Erica Banks, Communications Officer, Aberdeen Performing Arts.
Emeli Sandé has pledged her support to the multi-million pound scheme to launch the historic venue into the 21st century and beyond
Built to a design by Archibald Simpson and opened in 1822, performers as diverse as Charles Dickens, Elton John and comedy puppet duo Pinky and Perky have trodden the boards to entertain and amaze Aberdeen audiences. Politicians such as Tony Benn, Winston Churchill, and Lloyd George also put in appearances, and throughout its history the building has played host to everything from concerts and bazaars to theatre and sporting events.
Indeed many Aberdonians can still recall their shock introduction to Glam Rock when in far off 1972 a hopeful David Bowie accompanied by legendary guitarist Mick Ronson brought Spiders from Mars to a Music Hall audience.
As the “A Listed” venue begins an £8m restoration and regeneration uplift, Aberdeen Performing Arts (APA) has announced that Alford-born singer-songwriter Emeli Sandé has pledged her support to the multi-million pound scheme to launch the historic venue into the 21st century and beyond.
“The Music Hall holds so many fond memories for me” said former Alford Academy pupil Emeli,
“From the music festivals in primary school to my first tour, the beautiful atmosphere and stunning acoustics really make this a special place to perform.”
The project is spearheaded by APA, the charitable trust which runs the Music Hall, His Majesty’s Theatre and The Lemon Tree.
To date, fundraising efforts have raised a massive £6.5m towards the transformation, including major contributions from Aberdeen City Council, Creative Scotland, The Heritage Lottery Fund, Historic Environment Scotland, The Robertson Trust, The Foyle Foundation, Garfield Weston, The Wolfson Foundation and The Hugh Fraser Foundation.
This week a £150,000 sponsorship deal has been agreed between APA and Aberdeen Solicitors’ Property Centre. Aberdeen Inspired has also gifted £50,000, bringing the total funds raised to just over 80 percent of the final total, £7.9m, ahead of re-opening in Autumn/Winter 2018.
Jane Spiers, APA Chief Executive commented:
“We are so thrilled to have begun the next chapter in the life of the Music Hall. This is a huge campaign that has been years in the making – it has taken many months of planning and fundraising. However, this project is about much more than bricks and mortar. The Music Hall is a national treasure with decades of wonderful history behind it.
The range and calibre of artists, musicians and events the Hall has hosted over nearly 200 years is truly astonishing and its place at the heart of community and civic life is unassailable. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who has a connection with Aberdeen who doesn’t have a story to tell about the Music Hall – a prize giving, graduation, great concert, school orchestra, a romantic encounter.
We’re delighted that Emeli Sandé is lending her support to the transformation and we are proud to be developing a venue which will be international in outlook and also operate at the heart of the ever-growing arts community in the North-east.”
Plans for the revamped Music Hall include upgrades to the historic auditorium with new seating, flooring and more flexible staging, new performance, rehearsal and education spaces, upgraded artist facilities, a new foyer, box office and café bar and new ramps and lifts to improve access to all areas.
Jane added:
“It really is an ingenious re-imagining of the space. We’re restoring and retaining the Music Hall’s historic fabric and its wonderful acoustic and at the same time we’re adding new features in keeping with the expectations of a 21st century audience … our venues are a vital part of cultural life in the city”
Aberdeen City Council leader Jenny Laing backed up Jane’s comments
“The Music Hall redevelopment is a wonderful example of projects taking place in the city centre which will deliver a positive impact”
and Sean O’Callaghan of main contractor Kier Construction commented that
“It’s a privilege to restore this historic and much loved building. Our expertise and experience in delivering a diverse range of iconic heritage projects across Scotland stands us in good stead as we renovate Aberdeen Music Hall for future generations to enjoy.”
If you would like to support the project via donations, by lending the support of your business or by becoming a Music Hall ambassador contact Aberdeen Performing Arts .
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Oct 272016
With thanks to Rob Adams.
It’s a varied life on the road for saxophonist Konrad Wiszniewski and pianist Euan Stevenson who bring their acclaimed New Focus Quartet to the Blue Lamp on Thursday, November 3.
Already this autumn Wiszniewski and Stevenson’s touring schedule has taken them to a blues club in Cupar and churches in Edinburgh and Falkirk as well as the former seamen’s mission down by Eyemouth harbour.
“Blues and church music are two of the main ingredients in jazz,” says Wiszniewski, who is also one of the stars of the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra’s saxophone section.
“Jazz musicians improvise on blues scales and a lot of jazz, especially the soul-jazz style that came out of the 1950s and 1960s, draws on gospel music, so we felt at home in both types of venue and particularly enjoyed the acoustics in Craiglockhart church in Edinburgh.
“We thought it made an ideal jazz venue – and the minister agreed!”
Wiszniewski and Stevenson have been touring to promote their new album, New Focus on Song, the second release by a group that grew out of an Edinburgh Jazz Festival tribute they paid to the great saxophonist Stan Getz. In 1961, Getz recorded a trailblazing orchestral album, Focus, and in 2011 Wiszniewski and Stevenson were commissioned by the festival to recreate the music on the album to mark its fiftieth anniversary.
They so enjoyed working with the ensemble that performed Focus, a nine-piece featuring jazz quartet, string quartet and concert harp, that they turned it into their main outlet, although for economic reasons gigs with the string quartet and harp tend to be quite rare at the moment.
“Although we don’t actually sing, the music on the new album is really songlike in style,” says Wiszniewski.
“The idea was that the compositions would be roughly the same length as a pop single because people’s time is so precious these days and we wanted to try and capture their attention quickly with strong melodies, although we stretch out a bit more in live performances than we did on the album.”
Atmosphere plays a strong role in the music, too, and there’s also quite a prominent Scottish element.
“The Scottish folk influence is something that came quite naturally, just through living and working here,” says the Glasgow-based Wiszniewski, who in addition to various jazz projects has toured with award-winning folk fusion band the Peatbog Faeries and with fiddle player Aidan O’Rourke, from Lau.
“We toured with the American saxophonist Ravi Coltrane’s group last year and his musicians were very complimentary about how we were playing jazz that reflected our own culture rather than theirs, so we feel we must be doing something right.”
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Oct 062016
With thanks to Suzanne Kelly.
Legendary 1980s band Theatre of Hate will release its first album in some 30 years on 14 October.
Theatre of Hate were formed in the 1980s, but only recently reformed to tour. Original members Stan Stammers (bass) and John Leonard (saxophone) will join Brandon in the current line-up which will be at Krakatoa on 4 November.
The album ‘Kinshi’ (from the Japanese meaning roughy ‘forbidden’) is being crowd funded and offers a wide range of incentives to those who donate to the project and preorder the album which will be available on several formats including vinyl.
Details can be found here: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/theatre-of-hate
Vive Le Rock has awarded the album 9/10 in a full page review with a headline that reads:
“Mighty return from post-punk legends”
and goes on to conclude
“Kinshi is the sound of a band who have grown and developed, but never lost sight of what brought them together. It’s intensity and sense of purpose is relentless and it demands attention, but then Theatre of Hate was never meant to be back-ground noise and that’s why so many years on, it’s so good to have them back”
There are a whole host of Pre-Order goodies to be had when getting your hands on a copy of ‘Kinshi’, from Gold Dinner Packages to Double Vinyl versions to
Download only editions. And remember ALL Pre-Orderer’s will receive a download of ‘Kinshi’ direct into their inbox on the release day morning FRIDAY 14TH OCTOBER 2016.
We have not One but Two Pre-Order sites for you to peruse:
To Pre-Order direct from the band, go to http://theatreofhatekinshi.bigcartel.com
To Pre-Order from PledgeMusic, go to http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/theatre-of-hate
The full ‘Kinshi’ Tour is selling well. Advance tickets can be found here:
THEATRE of HATE – ‘Kinshi’ UK Tour 2016
OCTOBER
Wed 26th LONDON Exclusive Pledge Show
http://tinyurl.com/hh4z2oy
Thu 27th BRISTOL Fleece
http://tinyurl.com/jc522hq
Fri 28th BEDFORD Esquires
http://tinyurl.com/hsczw44
Sat 29th BUCKLEY Tivoli (Dark Wave Alldayer)
http://tinyurl.com/p7y34mg
Sun 30th BIRMINGHAM o2 Academy
http://tinyurl.com/hhfv89q
NOVEMBER
Tue 1st LEEDS Brudenell Social Club
http://tinyurl.com/zdsxxvp
Wed 2nd NEWCASTLE The Cluny
http://tinyurl.com/hu884wg
Thu 3rd GLASGOW King Tuts Wah Wah Hut
http://tinyurl.com/h5bb73t
Fri 4th ABERDEEN Krakatoa
http://tinyurl.com/zsw29ce
Sat 5th DUNFERMLINE PJ Malloys
http://tinyurl.com/zpgjoa3
Sun 6th MANCHESTER Academy
http://tinyurl.com/hlhgfr2
Tickets & Info
http://www.kirkbrandon.com/shows
Those who have pre-ordered are receiving updates, videos and mp3s.
Sep 292016
With thanks to Suzanne Kelly
Big Country return to Aberdeen’s Lemon Tree to mark a very special anniversary.
Following the incredible success of their 30th Anniversary ‘Steeltown’ Tour, BIG COUNTRY now celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the album that followed that release – ‘The Seer’.
Famously, the album included an appearance by Kate Bush, joining the late Stuart Adamson on the title track and the single ‘Look Away’ was the group’s biggest UK single, reaching Number 7 in the charts.
The album itself reached Number 2 here, with Rolling Stone reflecting: “‘One Great Thing’, ‘I Walk the Hill’ and ‘Eiledon’ are stirring expressions of the desire for individual integrity and a future filled with peace”… a timely sentiment.
The band will perform the album in its entirety, as well as visiting their stunning catalogue of songs, taken from their multi-million selling and Number 1 hit albums.
Their classic hits and live favourites include Harvest Home – Fields of Fire – In A Big Country (which sold 2 million copies) – Chance – Wonderland – Look Away – The Teacher – East of Eden’ from such massive albums such as the triple Grammy –nominated, ‘The Crossing,’ ‘Steeltown’ and ‘Peace In Our Time’. BIG COUNTRY continue to look beyond the next horizon.
Big Country is BRUCE WATSON (guitars/vocals); MARK BRZEZICKI (drums, vocals); JAMIE WATSON (guitars/vocals). They will be augmented on stage by SIMON HOUGH and bassist, SCOTT WHITLEY.
Further tour dates and more information can be found here: www.bigcountry.co.uk
Sep 292016
The Mission release their new album, ‘Another Fall From Grace’ on 30th September 2016. They play Glasgow’s ABC 02 on 3 October, with Peter Murphy the opening act. Suzanne Kelly was one of the many who helped crowd fund this new work, and will be on hand for the Glasgow show.
Another Fall From Grace was produced by Wayne Hussey and Tim Palmer and features guest backing vocals from Gary Numan, Martin Gore (Depeche Mode), Ville Valo (HIM), Julianne Regan (All About Eve) & Evi Vine.
On September 2nd The Mission release the gloriously melodramatic Met-Amor-Phosis, the first single from the new album.
Co-Produced by Tim Palmer and Wayne Hussey, Met-Amor-Phosis features backing vocals by HIM front man Ville Valo and marks a return for The Mission to their classic anthemic swagger and bombast.
The Met-Amor-Phosis digital only single includes a haunting acoustic version by Wayne Hussey and a high energy club version called, ‘The Black Star Remix’ by Evansson.
Met-Amor-Phosis emerged following a coastal drive from LA to San Francisco, explains Wayne:
“Bowie had just died, and whilst the first verse is mostly autobiographical having also recently read Kafka’s novel of the same title, the second verse is certainly flavoured by Bowie’s passing’’
Of the new album, Wayne commented:
“For me, this new Mission album is the long lost missing link between the Sisters Of Mercy’s First & Last & Always and The Mission’s God’s Own Medicine, both albums of course that I was heavily involved in making. I set out this time with the intention of making an album that sounds like 1985.
“The fact that I feel this has largely been achieved is down to my renewed love for the jingle jangle shimmer of the electric 12 string guitar which featured heavily on those two previously mentioned albums and now the new Mission album.
“This is a dark album although I didn’t set out with that intention, it’s just the way things unfolded. I know I did go a little crazy and even a little paranoid during the recording of this album, certainly my mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual well being all suffered during the course of it. And I think that has informed both the music and the lyrics.
“So much of this was done in isolation – from the world, from my family, from my friends, and even from my band mates. I can’t say it’s an album I enjoyed making but it is an album I needed to make.
“It is with huge relief that I can now say it is finished and maybe it’s like an acute pain that you have that once it’s gone you can’t remember how it felt. I hope so as I would like one day to feel the fondness for this record that it maybe deserves.”
Another Fall From Grace will be available on CD, DL and 180 gram vinyl plus ltd edition DELUXE double CD and DVD.
The deluxe version contains full album on CD, an instrumental version of the album with bonus remix track ‘Met-Amor-Phosis’ and a 93 minute DVD featuring never before seen footage from 1987 of The Mission performing at Elland Road, Leeds, supporting U2, Aston Villa Leisure Centre as The Metal Gurus and The Royal Court in Liverpool for the Hillsborough benefit gig, both from 1989, producer Tim Palmer’s home footage of the recording of ‘Carved in Sand’ /’Butterfly on a Wheel’ video, and the promo video for new single Met-Amor-Phosis.
A new video ‘Met-Amor-Phosis’ – can be found here: https://youtu.be/f3LVWnHhzNA
Aberdeen Voice will review the Glasgow date. More information on The Mission here: http://www.themissionuk.com/wp/
Sep 212016
By Penny Wells.
Well, today is International Day of Peace 2016, and as I sit with a coffee at home I ask myself the question ‘does Aberdeen care about peace?’ It does, and this is how.
In the seven years I have been singing at folk/open mics clubs in the area (Tin Hut, Fyvie, Cellar 35, Musa, Stonehaven, Blue Lamp) I regularly hear songs and poems about peace, although to be fair, there are also many which seem to revisit various historical battles and indeed, almost glorify war.
It is responsible reporting to mention both.
To see real imbalance, try looking around a good bookshop. How many books are there on wars? How many are there on peace building?
I consider myself a peace activist, although a passive activist (if that is not an oxymoron), and as this is International Day of Peace, naturally, it is peace I wish to focus on and reflect on how it connects with my musical activities.
I sing either solo or as part of a duo (Millbrig) with Steve Allan, and when not job-hunting (no easy task in Aberdeen’s current oil recession) I am busy writing/recording in my spare time.
There is an excellent series of events currently underway, and more being planned by local musician, Nigel Lammas, in which musicians and poets express themselves as pro peace.
I took part in one such event last Sunday at St Andrews Cathedral. Much of the material performed, by about ten very different acts, was self penned – as were my own contributions ‘Old Soldier’ and ‘Song for Syria’. However, most of the targeted audience from other cultural backgrounds were enjoying Eid in the Park … so perhaps I was at the wrong venue at that time.
‘Old Soldier’ empathises with ex-combatants. The song suggests that peace talks may be more productive than combat. Admittedly, the song was originally gendered as it included the line ‘Women prefer to hold peace talks’. I changed this to ‘Many prefer to hold peace talks’ at the request of men who wish to be considered as part of this.
‘Song for Syria’ was written after hearing Dr Samer Attar on Radio 4 (26.07.16). Dr Attar is one of many medics who volunteer to help in conflict zones, at considerable risk to themselves. An mp3 copy of the song was sent to Dr Attar in Chicago as a world exclusive, as a gesture of thanks and appreciation for his work and that of his colleagues. Steve and I were pleased to tell this story on Keith Community radio recently as guests on their ‘live lounge’ programme (an hour of chat and music).
The song expresses the wish that a safe place to live could be found for children of conflict, and bewilderment that we train medics to the highest standard, yet despatch them to places of conflict to patch people back together again after man made conflicts, which seems counterproductive.
A major contribution that Aberdeen makes, in my humble opinion, comes at grass roots level, as there are many musicians who think similarly. But it is not always considered acceptable to express these views at work, or in certain social circles, and some are reluctant to be named for fear of reprisal.
However the freedom to express oneself through song, poetry, spoken word or art is clearly evident in Musa café/wine bar, which I have enjoyed going along to since last November.
Musa is presenting a themed peace evening this coming Monday. Billed as ‘A Night of Peaceful Protest through Songs and Spoken Word’, Performers, including those who regularly attend Musa’s open mic sessions will be joined by invited guests from the UN Association Aberdeen. All are welcome to come along, whether to do a turn, watch, listen, or chat in celebration of peace. That my friends is how Aberdeen ‘does’ peace.
A Night of Peaceful Protest through Songs and Spoken Word’
Monday, 26th September – 8pm to 12 midnight
Regulars welcome!
Plus participation from UN Association, Aberdeen
Musa,
33 Exchange St,
Aberdeen AB11 6PH
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