SEÁN MCGOWAN SIGNS TO XTRA MILE RECORDINGS // HEADLINE UK TOUR IN SEPTEMBER 2017

Xtra Mile Recordings is pleased to announce that the extraordinarily talented Southampton-born singer Seán McGowan is joining the Xtra Mile Recordings family. Plans for new releases, including his debut album, are already underway and a headline tour has been booked for September 2017.

Seán McGowan wearing an Xtra Mile t-shirt and he's happy about it. Yes.

Seán has been on Xtra Mile’s radar for a while now through his regular touring with the likes of Frank Turner, Skinny Lister, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly., Rob Lynch and Beans On Toast as well as supporting Billy Bragg and performing at Glastonbury and The Great Escape. Over the past six years Seán has been steadily building up his now considerable fanbase by being a constant force on the touring circuit and through word-of-mouth. His own headline shows are now selling out across the country and this year he will play his biggest full-band tour.  

Dates are:

SEPTEMBER
08 Manchester @ Jimmy’s
09 Nottingham @ Bodega
14 Bristol @ The Exchange
15 London @ Sebright Arms
16 Southampton @ The Loft

Speaking of the signing, Charlie Caplowe – MD of Xtra Mile Recordings says: “To be honest, I had to look through all our contracts to double check that Seán wasn’t already signed to Xtra Mile, such is his deep-rooted affinity to the label and the acts! Seriously though, we can’t wait to get cracking with this. Seán is incredibly talented and a lovely bloke to boot. The world can and should be his oyster and we are massively excited to work very closely with him to that end.”

Seán adds: "I made a decision when I got into music. I wanted to do things for the right reasons with the right people. Signing to Xtra Mile is the right thing to do with the right people. From the roster to the staff – it's just spot on. I'm unbelievably over the moon right now. I never thought I'd really get anywhere with this. I'm so grateful for the opportunity and can't wait to get started. It feels like home already, how it should be. The highlight of my career to date. Here's to many more with my new family! "

Previously, Seán has self-released two EPs, either given away or sold on a pay what you want basis at shows, and three singles. Stay tuned for news on brand new music very soon.

facebook.com/seanmcgowanmusicuk / Twitter @seanmcgowanuk / musicglue.com/seanmcgowan

COUNTERFEIT SIGN TO XTRA MILE RECORDINGS // NEW TRACK 'ADDICTION' PREMIERED – LISTEN NOW // SPRING 2017 TOUR

Xtra Mile Recordings, are proud to announce the signing of London five-piece, Counterfeit. In celebration, the band have premiered new track 'Addiction', getting its first play on Dan P. Carter's Radio 1 Rock Show.

'Addiction' is a hard-hitting track driven by Jamie Campbell Bower’s raw and honest vocals. It was produced by Thomas Mitchener (Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Dead!) and recorded at Broadfields Studio. 'Addiction' has featured in the band’s live shows, and is a firm fan favourite. You can listen to it below.

Counterfeit will also tour in spring 2017. Tickets are on sale from Wednesday 30 November 2016 here. They kick off their tour in Hamburg on 24 March, and work their way through various cities including Berlin, Rome and Amsterdam, before reaching the UK. The band will then head to Leeds on 18 April and wrap things up in Brighton on 29 April, stopping off along the way to play London’s renowned Underworld, on 26 April.

Speaking of the signing and their 2017 plans, Jamie said: "It is my belief that we can all become addicted to something. Whether it be a substance, feeling, person, place...the list is endless, but ultimately that obsession with, whatever your chosen poison, breaks you down and can leave you empty. 'Addiction' is in some ways about overpowering that need for any form of crutch and accepting things on the world's terms rather than trying to control it on your own. Produced by Thomas Mitchener at Broadfields studio, this song marks a new beginning for Counterfeit and is the first of much more to come.

"We are also pleased to announce that Counterfeit have signed to Xtra Mile. We believe that this will be a good home for us and are in good company. Onwards and upwards and into 2017."

Founder of Xtra Mile Recordings, Charlie Caplowe, said of the signing: “We’re massively excited to have signed Counterfeit. They’ve made an amazing album and their live show is immense. 2017 looks set to be a huge year for the band.”

2016 has been a busy year for Counterfeit. Earlier this year saw the five piece play their first UK headline tour, which included a sell out show at London’s Electric Ballroom. They then toured mainland Europe, and played festivals including Rockcamp in Germany and 2000trees in Cheltenham in the summer. 

facebook.com/therealcounterfeit / Twitter @counterfeitrock 

www.therealcounterfeit.com

FAILURE'S FIRST ALBUM IN 19 YEARS 'THE HEART IS A MONSTER' OUT DIGITALLY 29 JUNE 2015, UK AND EU CD ON 17 JULY 2015 // PREORDER NOW // WATCH VIDEO FOR 'HOT TRAVELER'

Xtra Mile Recordings are proud and pleased to announce the release of Failure's brand new studio album The Heart Is A Monster out 29 June 2015 digitally and on CD in the UK and EU on 17 July 2015.

Preorders for The Heart Is A Monster are available via iTunes for download and the XMR shop for CD (vinyl coming soon), as well as Amazon.  This includes a pair of instant downloads: 'Hot Traveler' and 'Mulholland Dr.' You can watch the video for 'Hot Traveler' below:

Music Video by the band Failure for the song "Hot Traveler" from the album "The Heart is a Monster" https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-heart-is-a-monster/id989008661 http://www.vevo.com/watch/USQY51570734

Some bands shine very bright very briefly, but stick in the memories of many true music fans. So it is with Failure. The LA based three-piece released three albums in the early 1990s before splitting up. Their massive influence on the sound and songwriting of so many bands since is remarkable.

After splitting the individual members went on to various projects: Greg Andrews forming Autolux and Ken Andrews working on the producer/mixer side with the likes of Chris Cornell, Beck and Nine Inch Nails. But the rumblings of many a fan finally got through and Failure returned after a 17-year hiatus in early 2014 with a single Los Angeles date. The show sold out in seconds, which led to a North American tour — including a run of dates with Tool — and eventually back to the studio. The resultant album The Heart Is A Monster was initially launched via D2C platform Pledge. The pickup was extraordinary. The album shows why Ken Andrews, Greg Edwards and Kellii Scott remain such a powerful musical force. The band played their first UK/European show in 20 years at a sold out London’s Garage in May 2015 to a rapturous reception.

Photo by Ryan Daly

The Heart Is A Monster is already receiving praise, with Rolling Stone describing the release as “a sprawling, 18 track voyage that… brilliantly picks up from where Fantastic Planet left off” and Metal Hammer adding, “this most original of bands are experiencing the kind of commercial and critical acceptance that alluded them for so long. Do yourself, and them, a favour; don’t miss out second time round.”

Failure formed in Los Angeles in the early ‘90s, releasing Comfort, their debut album, in 1992 via Slash Records. Magnified followed in the spring of 1994 with the band’s final offering, Fantastic Planet, released in 1996. Fantastic Planet earned a perfect 5-star score from Alternative Press with the magazine saying the album was able “to breathe life into the corpse of contemporary, guitar-driven rock,” adding that the band was “willing to stretch the definition of both their instruments and their songs.” The 17 track album is considered one of the era’s most influential and enduring rock records. Over the years, Failure has become known as a “band’s band” whose songs have been covered by such diverse artists as A Perfect Circle ('The Nurse Who Loved Me') and Paramore ('Stuck On You').

Tracklisting

Segue 4
Hot Traveler
A.M Amnesia
Snow Angel
Atom City Queen
Segue 5
Counterfeit Sky
Petting The Carpet
Mulholland Dr.
Fair Light Era
Segue 6
Come Crashing
Segue 7
The Focus
Otherwhere
Segue 8
I Can See Houses
Segue 9

facebook.com/failure / Twitter @failure / www.failureband.com

WILL VARLEY 'LIVE AT THE LIGHTHOUSE EP' OUT 4 MAY 2015 // STREAM LEAD TRACK 'WE DON'T BELIEVE YOU' // UK SPRING TOUR

Xtra Mile Recordings’ newest signing Will Varley unveils details of his forthcoming five-track digital EP, Live At The Lighthouse, which will be released on 4 May 2015.  You can preorder the EP now from the Xtra Mile digital shop, from Amazon or Google Play.

The EP includes new song 'We Don't Believe You', a timely look at the current political climate in Britain - “If we're after Britain First than we should probably be last, and before UK independence we should give back what isn't ours,” - taking on colonial history, globalisation and foreign policy all in the time it takes a pop song to say “I love you”. You can stream the track below.

Taken from the forthcoming digital-only EP 'Live At The Lighthouse' Pre-order here: Amazon - http://smarturl.it/LATL-Amazon Google Play - http://smarturl.it/LATL-GP XMR - http://smarturl.it/LATL-XMR

More live tracks from previous albums feature too, including the much-loved 'Weddings and Wars' (the history of the human race) and 'King for a King' (the story of a life from birth to death). There's hardly time to breathe as Will's viewpoint flows across the timeline of a mere moment, or an entire millennium.

Will signed to Xtra Mile Recordings backstage at the Royal Albert Hall just moments before he performed on stage supporting Frank Turner as part of a Teenage Cancer Trust gig at the end of March. He’s been named one of Time Out's rising stars of 2015 as well as “powerful, political and pertinent” by the Independent.

The 27-year-old rambling folk singer-songwriter from Kent is a self-made man who, on one recent tour, walked 500 miles with a guitar on his back, playing shows along the way. He makes his own music videos. He co-runs his own record label and music festival, Smugglers. As if mirroring his work ethic, his songs pack narrative detail. Each three or four minutes is earthy and punchy, rolling and rollicking upon barely-concealed anger, or blatant piss-taking.

The EP tracklisting is:

1. Weddings and Wars
2. From Halcyon
3. We Don't Believe You
4. King For A King
5. I Got This Email

Will Varley is on tour during May. Tour dates and ticket links can be found, along with all other artists' shows, on our gigs calendar, or look below:

MAY
02 Nottingham @ Bodega Social Club
03 Salford @ Sounds From the Other City Festival
04 Edinburgh @ The Voodoo Rooms
05 Leeds @ Oporto
07 Winchester @ The Railway
08 Cardiff @ The Moon Club
10 Portsmouth @ Edge of the Wedge
15 Leicester @ The Cookie Jar
16 Brighton @ The Mesmerist (The Alt Escape)
20 St Albans @ The Horn
21 Bristol @ The Louisiana
23 Hay-On-Wye @ How the Light Gets In Festival
24 Cambridge @ Junction 2
27 London @ Oslo
29 Canterbury @ The Gulbenkian Theatre 

facebook.com/willvarleymusic / Twitter @willvarleymusic / www.willvarley.com

PJ BOND SIGNS TO XTRA MILE RECORDINGS // NEW ALBUM 'WHERE WERE YOU?' OUT 4 MAY 2015 // STREAM 'BROAD STREET'

Americana-tinged folk songwriter PJ Bond has signed to Xtra Mile Recordings and will release his new album Where Were You? on 4 May 2015. You can pre-order the album on CD and download from the following places: 

Amazon

Xtra Mile Recordings

Google Play: 

You can also stream 'Broad Street', the first single to be taken from the album, here.

PJ Bond has been compared to Elliot Smith, Micah P Hinson, and Wilco, while his new album reveals all the bombast and ambition of someone who has listened to a fair amount of Dylan or Springsteen, and dreamed. He's spent years travelling and playing to everyone he could, essentially homeless, while recording a heap of songs, including for the breakout solo release, You Didn't Know I Was Alphabetical. 

His lyrics cover topics that lace the modern musical lexicon – love, loss, friendship, family, and music. But you've also got a wink and nod to infidelity and murder on 'Everglades', while '87 Broadcast' (which revolves around his "complex relationship with music, 'making it', songs, connecting with other people”) boasts the refrain 'the radio makes you honest'.

Xtra Mile and PJ Bond were introduced by labelmate Billy the Kid, when Billy put forward 'I'm In a Bad Way' for Xtra Mile's fifth Xtra Mile High Club compilation, which included unsigned artists picked by the entire XMR roster. It was such a good choice, and fit with the label so well, that releasing the record seemed inevitable.

Talking about the signing with Xtra Mile, PJ said: 

“Xtra Mile is one of the rare labels where it seems that they put out music that they truly believe in, and are not so much constrained by genre that they'll question whether or not it is a 'good idea'. This approach by clearly music-loving people is what drew me most to XMR, and was supported by everyone with whom I spoke about them. Honesty, respect, heart, these are the common threads. All in all, I think I've found a lovely home.”

We couldn't agree more, and we're happy to have him. 

www.facebook.com/PJBond / Twitter @pjbondmusic / pjbondmusic.tumblr.com

ESMÉ PATTERSON SIGNS TO XTRA MILE RECORDINGS

'The Glow’ is the first track to be made available from a unique concept album by acclaimed US singer/songwriter and new signing to Xtra Mile Recordings, Esmé Patterson.  

Woman to Woman is her second solo album and is to be released through Xtra Mile Recordings worldwide (ex. North America) on 2 February 2015. You can preorder from our very own online shop, from Amazon or via iTunes.

The former member of Americana group Paper Bird, she has written 10 songs from the perspective of famous women immortalised in song on Woman to Woman, including singing from Dolly Parton protagonist Jolene’s point of view on the track ‘Never Chase A Man’; ‘What Do You Call A Woman’ is a response to Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean’; and ‘Valentine’ is the voice of Elvis Costello’s 'Alison'.   

As Patterson explains "I was learning to play a Townes Van Zandt song called 'Loretta' ...and I started thinking about how many songs were just a woman's name, and how these women are frozen in time, and frozen as archetypes, frozen in black and white. And I thought they deserved to be coloured in."  She was invited to discuss the idea, before the record was made, at a TEDx conference in 2013.

Lead track ‘The Glow’ is a reply to the Beach Boys track ‘Caroline, No’ which appeared on the classic Pet Sounds album. The New York Times said: "Her voice is wiry and candid, backed by arrangements that roll along the folk-country borderline. Some songs proclaim self-determination and defiance; others, like 'The Glow' - imagining the Beach Boys' Caroline - hint at mystery and mortality.” Listen for yourselves.

The Glow is taken from 'Woman To Woman' released by Xtra Mile Recordings on 2nd February 2015. Pre-order: When Esme Patterson was learning to play Townes Van Zandt's song "Loretta," she says she started singing the words and got angry. "I started thinking about how one-sided and subjective a lot of 'love songs' are, and how a lot of women immortalized in songs might tell a different side of the story if anyone ever asked." Fueled by this epiphany, Patterson started writing songs for Woman to Woman, an album of response songs to Dolly Parton's "Jolene," Elvis Costello's "Alison," Van Zandt's "Loretta," the Beach Boys' "Caroline, No," The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby," the Band's "Evangeline" and Leadbelly's "Irene."

Patterson also appears on several tracks on the new Shakey Graves album, and performed with him in late October on Conan O Brien's show in the US.  The song ‘Dearly Departed’ has been streamed nearly 3 million times to date and she has been supporting Graves on tour in the US.

Patterson’s songwriting is at the heart of the folk and roll explosion in Denver, Colorado and. since her emergence as a solo artist. this fierce and brilliant songwriter's altitude and velocity has only increased.

Woman To Woman tracklisting: 
(Corresponding popular songs each track responds to are listed in parentheses)
1. Valentine (Elvis Costello - 'Alison') 
2. Never Chase A Man (Dolly Parton - 'Jolene')
3. Oh Let’s Dance (The Kinks – ‘Lola’)
4. Tumbleweed (Townes Van Zandt - 'Loretta')
5. What Do You Call A Woman (Michael Jackson – ‘Billie Jean’)
6. The Glow (The Beach Boys - 'Caroline, No')
7. Louder Than the Sound (The Band - 'Evangeline')
8. Bluebird (The Beatles - 'Eleanor Rigby')
9. A Dream (Leadbelly - 'Goodnight Irene')
10. Wildflower (Bob Dylan – ‘To Ramona’)