Oct 062021
 

Glasgow’s The Ninth Wave  release new single “Piece and Pound Coins”, a new taster of their next full length body of work, due 2022. By Craig Chisholm.

A compelling piece, “Piece and Pound Coins” was produced by the band themselves and mixed by Max Heyes (Massive Attack, Doves, Lucia & The Best Boys, Primal Scream). Amidst a distinctly chilling atmosphere, rolling piano lines weave their way through chugging percussion with the track standing as a stark examination of grief and loss.

Speaking on the release of “Piece and Pound Coins”, singer Haydn Park-Patterson said: 

“I wrote this song about a friend who passed away a number of years ago. I’ve never really felt like I wanted to/could write about him for a number of reasons, but I guess the main one was because that for a long time, I wouldn’t have known what to write.

“Writing about death is a world away from writing about heartache/love/friendships because there’s nobody to listen to the song and wonder “is that about me?”.

“It’s a strange feeling, to write a song about someone that you know can’t ever hear it. The song also touches on the thought of wondering what he’d be up to now, 5 years on in his life, and how weird a thought it is that we’ve all continued on with our lives but his had a start and end point, and that’s it. No more memories to be made.

“The song also lets out a bit of confused anger that I felt not long after he passed, as I watched how a few people reacted to his death and the way in which they talked about it. That’s the meaning behind the line ‘death makes some people sad and some people ugly / and some people took your name for their own sake’.

“I like to think that he’d like the song, as he was one of the most supportive and positive-minded people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.”

The track has been released alongside a stunning video directed by Rianne White. She commented: 

“I feel completely in awe of this song and Haydn’s ability to frame such an immense feeling. Embraced by the catharsis of nature, the heights of grief and identity are expressed through a journey of Haydn’s internal growth accompanied by a symbolically poignant lone wolf.

I like to think of Hayden and the wolf as one, both finding their way back to their truest states of being with wild untamed hearts of companionship and eternal loyalty. “

The new single arrives off the back of the band’s recent singles ‘Everything Will Be Fine’ and ‘Maybe You Didn’t Know’; their Faris Badwan (The Horrors)-produced EP ‘Happy Days!’ (2020) and their AIM Award and Scottish Album of the Year-nominated debut album Infancy (2019).

Constantly developing and pushing their sound into exciting new territory, sonically The Ninth Wave are challenging expectations and preconceptions of their music with this new material.

Leaning toward influence from contemporaries such as Massive Attack, Young Fathers, Mount Kimbie and Portishead – the quartet assuredly retain their own distinct songwriting craft and approach.

Lyrically the new material also promises to be more upfront than ever before.

Celebrating honesty and real life, The Ninth Wave want their listeners to find comfort in their music. They want their fans to feel safe; to be confident in who they are, and to know they’re not alone with their feelings and anxieties.

“It’s a cathartic thing for both us and the listeners; we want to help with normalising being emotional and finding comfort within your stadness”, the band went on to say.

The Ninth Wave are widely praised across the board from The Guardian to Wonderland Magazine, NME, Dork Magazine, DIY Magazine and more – with radio support from BBC Radio 1 (Jack Saunders, Huw Stephens, Phil Taggart and Abbie McCarthy), BBC 6 Music (Steve Lamacq), and Radio X (John Kennedy).

Elsewhere the band’s music has been remixed by The Horrors, Dream Wife, The Twilight Sad, Mogwai, Low Spirits and Working Mens Club, along with tours and shows with Editors, Pussy Riot, CHVRCHES, Franz Ferdinand, Suede, The Magic Gang, Yonaka, and The Blinders.

The band play a date at Aberdeen Tunnels on 19th October.

Tickets are available here.

Band Website – https://theninthwave.online

Watch, “Piece and Pound Coins”: https://youtu.be/Sods9jZatuw

Stream, “Piece and Pound Coins”: https://theninthwave.lnk.to/PAPC

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.

paul-grace-25-min2Another 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/

Jun 242014
 

Jasmine Minks release a new single in tribute to a lost friend and colleague, and stalwart of Aberdeen’s early indie/punk scene.

Jasmine MinksBackground

Positivity is required. It’s 2014 and the World Cup. France are flying, England are…. well, doing what England tend to do in World Cup finals… keep everyone on tenterhook’s as to how it will go.

Scotland didn’t make it but we did beat the 2006 runners-up France on their own turf which felt as good as winning the world cup and the Jasmine Minks were there to witness it.

It was to be the last real get together for us with our friend and roadie Mark (aka SCARS). He died not too long after.

This song is a tribute to the Man; he was a soul that shaped us in so many different ways. He was one of us. It’s a song about remaining strong through a time of change and so often to many adversity and worry.

Production rationale

The main constraint to music these days is appetite. What drives us to keep on doing what we do? Positivity that’s what!

We believe in the capacity of (good) music to make a change for the better. We made a positive change. We have for the first time in a career spanning over 30 years included the bagpipes on a Jasmine Minks song.

Think the Minks meet McCartney on a boozed up Mull of Kintyre giving it a “wishing we were Brian Wilson” kind of vibe with some Jethro Tull flute thrown in for good measure with a twist of guitar alongside power drumming and you have a cocktail to provoke the senses that will leave them shaken and most likely stirred too.

Investment rationale

We made a genius move and have invested our lives in building our WALL – this WALL enables us to do our thing despite being in different areas all over the place – it’s a construction of our Work Art Life and Love

We did it ourselves via technology, the internet and the skill set of a group of musicians spread from fields afar such as Norway, Aberdeen and Glencoe to the London outskirts of Sutton to make this positivity happen. We hope you enjoy!

Available via digital download from iTunes, Amazon etc from 22nd June.

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