North American Tour Starts This Month With Shows in
Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Washington D.C., Detroit, Minneapolis and more...
Following the release earlier this year of their critically
acclaimed album Where The Action Is, The Waterboys release the Out Of All This Blue EP via Cooking Vinyl.
3. London Mick (Chris Evans Virgin Radio Session – Live)
4. Whole Of The Moon (Chris Evans Virgin Radio Session – Live feat. Blaine Harrison)
Written for a friend who's been to a dark place, "Out Of All This Blue" is a compassionate song of reassurance; a Waterboys classic in the making. The EP also features a 2015 demo of "Out Of All This Blue" and two live tracks, "London Mick" and "The Whole Of The Moon" (featuring Blaine Harrison from Mystery Jets), recorded on the Chris Evans Virgin Radio Breakfast Show and capturing the visceral rock ‘n’ roll edge of the band.
Where The Action Is, a 10-song genre-defying album is a testament to The Waterboys' frontman and founder Mike Scott's enduring talents. One of the finest British songwriters of the past four decades, his songs have been covered and/or recorded by artists including Prince, who crafted two different arrangements of Scott's classic "The Whole Of The Moon", Rod Stewart, Tom Jones, Steve Earle, and Ellie Goulding, who had a top-three hit in 2013 with "How Long Will I Love You."
The Waterboys are Brother Paul (keys), Ralph (drums), Aongus (bass), Jess and Zeenie (vocals), Steve Wickham (electric fiddle and guitar) and Mike Scott (vocals, guitar, and piano).
In support of the new album, The Waterboys will tour North America for the first time since 2015, hitting cities such as Boston, New York, Washington D.C., Detroit, Seattle, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and more. The tour begins September 17 at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, NJ. For more information visit The Waterboys website.
North America Tour:
Sept 17 – Count Basie Theatre | Red Bank, NJ
Sept 18 – The Wilbur| Boston, MA
Sept 20 – Calvin Theatre | Northampton, MA
Sept 21 – World Café Live | Philadelphia, PA
Sept 22 – Lincoln Theatre | Washington, DC
Sept 23 – Webster Hall | New York, NY
Sept 25 – Danforth Music Hall | Toronto, ON Sept 26 – Majestic Theatre | Detroit, MI
Sept 28 – Varsity Theater | Minneapolis, MN
Sept 29 – Old Town School Of Folk Music | Chicago, IL
Oct 01 – Gothic Theatre | Englewood, CO
Oct 02 – The Depot | Salt Lake City, UT
Oct 06 – Commodore Ballroom | Vancouver, BC
Oct 07 – Wonder Ballroom | Portland, OR
Oct 08 – The Neptune | Seattle, WA
Oct 12 – The Observatory North Park | San Diego, CA
Oct 11 – The Fillmore | San Francisco, CA
Oct 13 – The Observatory | Santa Ana, CA
Oct 15 – Belasco Theater | Los Angeles, CA
Where The Action Is is available on CD, Deluxe 2xCD, LP, digital download and streaming services with Exclusive bundles also available from the UK Official Store:
In celebration of their 50th anniversary, UK music legends Strawbs, plus a host of guest performers, former Strawbs, and Strawbs-related artists, will be performing at the Strand Theater in Lakewood, NJ on April 26-28, 2019!
Come join a weekend celebration of the first album release by seminal British band Strawbs!
Strawbs are Britain's most successful international progressive folk-rock band. They are mentioned in the same breath as progressive rock bands Yes, King Crimson and The Moody Blues.
Strawbs have a devoted fan base that continues to grow on the strength of their incredible live performances together with their classic albums over the years including “Grave New World”, “Bursting at the Seams”, “Hero & Heroine” and “Ghosts.” The band has achieved sales of over three million albums, seven consecutive Strawbs albums have featured in the US Billboard Top 200 albums.
Many top musicians have featured in the Strawbs line up over the years, including Sonjia Kristina, Blue Weaver, Don Airey and as well as Rick Wakeman, both his classically trained sons Adam and Oliver have been featured, a certain compliment to the band's talent.
After several years of touring in both acoustic and electric lineups, in 2017 Strawbs released “The Ferryman's Curse,” their first studio album of original material in eight years. The album returned to the album charts and garnered rave reviews worldwide!
The current Strawbs line-up comprises David Cousins, lead guitarist Dave Lambert, bass player Chas Cronk, and drummer Tony Fernandez, who recorded and toured together in the 1970s. They are joined by keyboard and guitar virtuoso Dave Bainbridge of Iona - a band who created a mystical blend of rock, folk, Celtic and ambient music - a perfect match for Strawbs.
STRAWBS (Present)
David Cousins (1968 - present)
Dave Lambert (1972 - present)
Chas Cronk (1973 - present)
Tony Fernandez (1978 - present)
Dave Bainbridge (2016 - present)
With
TERRA NOVA ORCHESTRA - 30 PIECE ORCHESTRA
STRAWBS (Past)
Blue Weaver (1971 - 1973) (subject to visas) – Amen Corner, Mott the Hoople, Bee Gees (Played on “Saturday Night Fever” and the 1970s hits)
John Ford (1969 – 1973) – Velvet Opera, Hudson Ford (Writer of Strawbs biggest single “Part of the Union”)
John Hawken (1973 - 1976) – Nashville Teens, Renaissance, Illusion
Brian Willoughby (1978 - 2092) – Mary Hopkin, The Monks, Nanci Griffith
SPECIAL GUESTS
Tony Visconti – David Bowie, T Rex, Moody Blues, Gentle Giant, Angélique Kidjo
Annie Haslam – Renaissance
Larry Fast – Nektar, Synergy, Peter Gabriel
Eric Bazilian – The Hooters, Joan Osborne
Wesley Stace – John Wesley Harding, Cabinet of Wonders
Cathryn Craig – Bill Medley
HIGHLIGHTS
Tony Visconti – conducts Strawbs with the Terra Nova Orchestra for the first orchestral performance of “Oh How She Changed”, the band's first single, featuring a new Tony Visconti arrangement.
David Cousins, Blue Weaver, John Ford will play the whole of Strawbs classic album “Grave New World” with Eric Bazilion and narrator Wesley Stace.
Annie Haslam – sings Sandy Denny's “Who Knows Where The Time Goes” with the Terra Nova Orchestra, featuring a brand new arrangement by Tony Visconti.
Eric Bazilion – sings “What If God Was One Of Us,” the hit he wrote and produced for Joan Osborne, with Strawbs and the Terra Nova Orchestra.
Sandy Denny and the Strawbs – the classic songs recreated by Annie Haslam and Acoustic Strawbs.
Larry Fast and David Cousins – Peter Gabriel's synthesizer master and the complete songwriter put a new edge on Strawbs lesser known material.
USA! The WUNDERBAR World Tour Dates and Locations have been announced and Ticket Pre-Sale Begins Today!
Ticket Pre-Sale starts at 10 AM in your local time zone. Use Code: "BEES" to get early access to tickets before the general public at www.eddieizzard.com/shows.
Every year, three trees are placed in the Marble Hall - and a garland is fixed along the grand staircase.
The custom of displaying Christmas trees was introduced to Britain in the late 18th by Queen Charlotte, consort of George III, although it was a yew tree rather than a fir that was used.
The Christmas tree was popularized by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in the 19th century.
London – Scottish music legend Barbara Dickson has recently completed a new studio album, “Through Line,” which is released on CD on Gonzo Multimedia UK. The project features some of Barbara's favourite songs, from her early days as a singer on the Scottish folk circuit through to mainstream chart success in the '70s and '80s, re-recorded with the acclaimed Carducci String Quartet.
Each of the nine tracks has been specially chosen by Barbara for the album with completely new arrangements by Jethro Tull legend John O'Hara who also produces. O'Hara is the orchestral conductor, pianist, keyboardist and accordion player for Ian Anderson & Jethro Tull. He also produced and arranged the # 1 Billboard charting 2017 album “Jethro Tull, the String Quartets.”
Says Barbara, “The Carducci are wonderful, talented people and a pleasure to meet. This is a completely different avenue for me and I'm very excited with the results. The album will have lots of familiar music that people will know as well as some lesser-known favourites of my own.”
Barbara Dickson is a Scottish singer whose hits include “I Know Him So Well,” “Answer Me” and “January February.” She has placed fifteen albums in the UK Albums Chart from 1977 to 2018, and had a number of hit singles, including four which reached the Top 20 in the UK Singles Chart.
The Scotsman newspaper has described her as Scotland's best-selling female singer in terms of the numbers of hit chart singles and albums she has achieved in the UK since 1976.
She is also a two-time Olivier Award-winning actress, with roles including Viv Nicholson in the musical “Spend Spend Spend,” and she was the original Mrs. Johnston in Willy Russell's long-running musical “Blood Brothers.” On televison she starred as Anita Braithwaite in “Band of Gold.”
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of Alfred Hitchcock’s film Vertigo. Dark City Gallery have teamed up with artist Malika Favre to produce a special pair of posters.
The first piece is titled ‘Kim’. It is 24 x 36 inch screen print, with a limited edition of 120, numbered and hand signed by Malika Favre and hand screen printed by White Duck Editions.
This poster will be available to purchase on Monday 13th August at 5:00PM (UK time). Visit Dark City Gallery: https://bit.ly/2vXPNdx
Soft Machine Announce New Album Hidden Details & World Tour Dates, with First North American Dates Since 1974!
NYC - In support of their forthcoming new album, British music legends Soft Machine will embark on their first North American tour since 1974 in October 2018, followed by the second North-American leg of the tour in January/February 2019. In concert, their set list will include material from all parts of the band's repertoire from 1970 onwards, but this is emphatically not a nostalgia act resting on its laurels.
Last weekend Soft Machine played their first two shows in North America since 1974 (it was in 1974 they toured USA and Canada during the Bundles/Allan Holdsworth era). Both shows, at the Montreal Jazz Festival and Quebec City, were exceptionally well received by the enthusiastic audience and local press.
Hidden Details is a new studio album of Soft Machine, recorded at the late great Jon Hiseman's Temple Studio in Surrey, England, last December 2017, and it will be released in September 2018 on MoonJune Records (North America; on CD and HD Download), on John Etheridge's Dyan Records (UK/Europe on CD, and iTunes), and on Vivid Records (Japan), exactly 50 years since the release of the band's 1968 debut album The Soft Machine. Limited and highly collectible vinyl edition of only 200 coloured vinyl (orange, blue and tour edition orange & blue marbled) will be released on the Dutch label Tonefloat, on September 8, 2018.
“'Hidden Details' is very much the product of an active, contemporary sounding outfit striking out with its own agenda. Though informed by the past, the music here is neither weighed down nor beholden to it. Animated with the same ineffable and inquisitive spirit that has always made this group throughout its fifty years such a compelling experience, it’' good to have a new Soft Machine with us in 2018.
The yearning tenderness of 'Heart Off Guard' and the come-down reveries of 'Broken Hill' and 'Drifting White' showcase the more intimate aspects of Soft Machine's personality while in contrast, 'One Glove' gives the more pugilistic side of John Etheridge's playing an outing.
The terse angularities of the title track and 'Life on Bridges' highlight a fearless disposition, as does the buzzsaw interplay heard during 'Ground Lift' and 'Flight of the Jett,' both featuring Roy Babbington's decisive interventions. The surging lyricism of 'Fourteen Hour Dream' flirts with an almost popish sensibility, underscoring the sense that this is a quartet that is fundamentally at ease with itself.
The return of what some older fans of the band have called 'cosmic tinkles’'– the appearance of layers of cyclical electric piano motifs – is especially welcome. Their brief manifestation on 'The Man Who Waved at Trains' and Third-era, 'Out-Bloody-Rageous,' both stone-cold Mike Ratledge-composed classics, adds an extra spacey dimension to the overall sound.
Travis' use of looping technology with his flutes creates its own beguiling world and can be heard to powerful effect on the beautiful and enigmatic 'Breathe,' where his hovering notes are underpinned by Marshall's oblique yet atmospheric percussion.” - Sid Smith
Soft Machine:
JOHN ETHERIDGE - guitar
THEO TRAVIS - sax, flute, Fender Rhodes
ROY BABBINGTON - bass guitar
JOHN MARSHALL - drums
with special guest GARY HUSBAND drums on selected dates
2018 North American East Tour Dates:
October 6 - Orion Studios - Baltimore, MD, USA [John Marshall on drums]
October 7 - Theater Of Living Arts - Philadelphia, PA, USA
October 9 - Roxy's & Duke - Dunellen, NJ, USA
October 10 - Darryl's House - Pawling, NY, USA
October 12 - 14The Iridium - NYC, NY, USA
October 16 - Mod's Club - Toronto, ON, Canada [Gary Husband on drums]
October 17 - The Tralf - Buffalo, NY, USA [Gary Husband on drums]
October 18 - Beachland Music Hall - Cleveland, OH, USA [Gary Husband on drums]
October 19 - The Irving Theater - Indianapolis, IN, USA [Gary Husband on drums]
October 21 - Progtober Festival - Reggie's - Chicago, IL, USA [Gary Husband on drums]
October 22 - Shank Hall - Milwaukee, WI, USA [Gary Husband on drums]
Soft Machine is a legend and an institution of British music, a band who included Robert Wyatt, Daevid Allen, Mike Ratledge, Kevin Ayers, Andy Summers (later of The Police), Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, Roy Babbington, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Allan Holdsworth, John Etheridge, Percy Jones, Rick Sanders, Dave McRae and Jack Bruce among others (Jimi Hendrix briefly jammed with the band in 1968!).
Since its creation in 1966, this band pioneered Psychedelic and Progressive Rock, led the 'Canterbury' trend, pioneered jazz-rock, and then guitar-led fusion (launching the guitar god Allan Holdsworth in 1974), influenced generations of musicians. Disbanded in 1978, recreated in few occasions in 1981 and 1984, the band resurfaces in 1999 under the name of Soft Ware.
Much was said about this band with a very complex intriguing history of constant personal changes during the 1966-1978 period. The band resurrected in 1999 under the name of Soft Ware, then as Soft Works 2002-2004 and Soft Machine Legacy 2004-2015. In December 2015, it was confirmed that the band had dropped the “Legacy” tag from their name, as the band featured three of the group's 1970s era members – guitarist John Etheridge, drummer John Marshall and bassist Roy Babbington (from the seminal 1976's album Softs), in addition to flute and sax player Theo Travis – returning to the original name from 2015, and performing numerous concerts all around Europe, South America and Japan.
