LARRY AND HIS FLASK RETURN, RE-SIGN TO XTRA MILE // UK AND EUROPE TOUR IN AUGUST 2018

There’s a storm on its way, a raucous and tumultuous swirl of bluegrass, punk, folk and gypsy jazz. Larry and His Flask are back! Returning to the UK and Europe in August for a handful of shows and festival dates, including Boom Town Fair in Hampshire, they have re-signed with Xtra Mile Recordings and plans are underway for their new album.

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Boasting an eclectic set of instruments that propel their shows to all-new heights – stand up bass, trumpets, banjos, trombones, harmonica, guitars and drums are all in the band’s artillery – the quintet from Oregon are a tour-de-force live. But it’s the multi-part harmonies and sheer energy that fuel the full Larry experience, churning the audience into a joyful flurry. It’s been too long since we’ve all had the pleasure to be a part of that, and with the new album waiting in the wings, it’s like coming home for Larry and His Flask. “When we were faced with what company to approach for our new album, XMR was our first and only choice," says Jamin Marshall, drummer and founder member. "Not to mention they have some of our favourite bands on their label. We are so excited to be part of the XMR family with Frank Turner, Against Me, Skinny Lister and on and on. XMR is a perfect fit for us.”

The band are over next month to play a few shows. “We have always loved playing in the UK and EU. The reception to our music is always so warm. We get treated very well,” says Jamin. 
Check out this great live video for ‘Ebb and Flow’.

Full live dates are:

AUGUST
07 Newport, UK @ Le Pub (Sold Out)
08 London, UK @ O2 Academy Islington
09 Hampshire, UK @ Boom Town Fair
10 Liege, Belgium @ Le Hangar
11 Wagersrott, Germany @ Enzo-Festival
12 Hamburg, Germany @ Knust
13 Oostende, Belgium @ Paulusfeesten
14 Haarlem, Netherlands @ Patronaat
15 Berlin, Germany @ Cassiopeia
16 Jablonec nad Nisou, Czech Republic @ Eurocentrum  
17 Mannheim, Germany @ Kulturgarten
18 Bilbao, Spain @ Plaza Nueva
19 Crailsheim, Germany @ 7180 Bar
21 Zurich, Switzerland @ Dynamo
22 Oberhausen, Germany @ Druckluft
23 Bramsche, Germany @ Sommerkulturprogramm
24 Den Haag, Netherlands @ Wild Rooster Festival
26 Stuttgart, Germany @ Lab-Fest

Back in 2012, Larry and His Flask joined Frank Turner on tour in the US and in the UK the following year. Xtra Mile came aboard around this time, releasing All That We Know in Europe followed quickly by the Hobo’s Lament EP and their fifth full-length album, By the Lamplight, in 2013. “XMR is always so good to us,” says Jamin. “They gave us a chance back when no one in the UK or EU really knew who we were. They have helped us out in times of need and we love working with them.” 

During this time, they earned their reputation as a wild, blazing, out-of-control celebration onstage, an unmissable live band. Packed shows carried them across North America and Europe to the end of 2013. Since then, the band members separated for a few years to live different lives, from sailing boats in the Caribbean to raising twins, and starting other bands. But after three years away, the call to arms was raised. “It was the right time and right place to come back to it,” says Jamin. “The band is more excited and fired up about everything than we have been in years. It's like a brand new day. We have all learned to get along better. I think we are ready to take this band seriously, write great music and put on a fun show every night.”

We’re thrilled to have them back. 

Buy their previous releases All That We Know (2011), Hobo’s Lament EP (2012) and By the Lamplight (2013) on CD and download from Xtra Mile Recordings.

Larry and His Flask are:

Kirk Skatvold – Mandolin and Trumpet
Ian Cook – Lead Vox and Electric Guitar
Andrew Carew – Banjo, Vox, Trumpet and Trombone
Jeshua Marshall – Stand up Bass, Harmonicas and Baritone Horn
Jamin Marshall – Stand up Drums  

www.larryandhisflask.com

NEW MULL HISTORICAL SOCIETY ALBUM 'WAKELINES', PRODUCED BY BERNARD BUTLER, OUT 21 SEPTEMBER 2018 // UK TOUR AUTUMN 2018

Mull Historical Society releases his eighth studio album, Wakelines, on 21 September 2018. Preorder the album on vinyl, CD and download.

Produced by the Mercury Award-winning songwriter and Brit Award-winning producer Bernard Butler, this is the songwriter and author Colin MacIntyre’s eighth album and was recorded in London at Butler’s studio. Colin will also be going on tour at the end of September throughout the UK.

Listen to the title track of the album below.

Colin said: “This is my eighth album, but it feels all about firsts. About going back. The first song I wrote for the album was ’14 Year Old Boy’. It tells the story of my first electric guitar being waded ashore to the isle of Mull, held high above the waves by my father, Kenny Macintyre. It was a Fender Telecaster guitar. Whenever I play the guitar even now I still expect an electric shock, to be plugged into the mainland, to be the 14 year-old boy again with his dreams, his sketched stageplots”.

This album is also the first time Colin has worked with someone like Bernard Butler. “I had a feeling about the album that I needed to get somewhere new – it was Bernard who realised what I was saying was I needed to get under my skin, lay myself bare. I’ve long admired Bernard and I feel that he has left some of him on here too. To have him performing so much on the album is an added bonus! 

"The album title ‘Wakelines’ in part refers to the child inside when I would wake early to watch as my father left the island for his weekly work at the BBC back in the city. He didn’t know I was watching. I missed him dreadfully. The songs are about family, and home, and how home, and islands, dreams, travel. Fittingly, we recorded the album in Bernard’s home in London and that has left its mark too – it just all felt right. Fitted. But it is also about people on the move in a global sense, families being forced to leave their homes due to war. Migration, and how “home” travels, have been themes across much of my recent work. In both music and words it has been the most creative time I’ve ever had.”

This is his first release in over two years, but he hasn’t been procrastinating in the studio. Following his first novel in 2015 The Letters of Ivor Punch – which went on to win the Edinburgh International Book Festival First Book Award – he has now adapted it for the stage and has just released two new books:  a memoir about his childhood growing up on the Isle of Mull entitled The Boy In The Bubble which is his contribution to the W&N Books Hometown Tales – Highlands & Hebrides series of original tales by regional writers. There is also his first children’s picture book The Humdrum Drum (Little Door Books) about an orchestra drum, promoting togetherness and teamwork, which comes with an accompanying CD of original related songs and audiobook from Colin.

UK HEADLINE TOUR 2018

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SEPTEMBER

20 Glasgow @ CCA
21 Edinburgh @ Pleasance Bar
22 Aberdeen @ Lemon Tree
23 Sheffield @ Greystones
27 Bristol @ Louisana
28 Manchester @ Night & Day
29 Oxford @ Jericho Tavern
30 Newcastle @ Cluny

OCTOBER

01 Leeds @ Brudenell
02 London @ Borderline (with Bernard Butler)
04 Brighton @ Prince Albert
06 Southampton @ Heartbreakers
27 Isle Of Mull @ Mull Theatre

Colin MacIntyre is an award-winning musician, producer, author and playwright. He has released eight acclaimed albums to date, most notably under the name Mull Historical Society, having achieved two UK top 20 albums and four top 40 singles, since his gold-selling debut album, Loss.

 

P.D. LIDDLE RELEASES DEBUT SOLO ALBUM 'CASUAL LABOUR' ON 13 JULY 2018 // LISTEN TO 'UNCANNY VALLEY'

P.D. Liddle is delighted to announce his debut solo album Casual Labour, out 13 July 2018. Preorder it on vinyl, CD and download via Xtra Mile here.

Check out the enigmatic video for second single ‘Uncanny Valley’ below.

A slow-burning folk rock splendour with Liddle's singular vocal signature, ‘Uncanny Valley’ is the second track to emerge from the forthcoming album. The single will sit alongside opening track ‘You Shouldn’t Have Called’, which received a warm reception earlier in 2018. 

As the vocalist and lyricist of East London folk-rock outfit Dry the River, Peter Liddle is a musician who has a proven pedigree. In releasing their widely acclaimed debut ‘Shallow Bed’ (2012) and its equally accomplished follow-up ’Alarms In The Heart’ (2014), the band amassed a passionate and dedicated following.

Dry the River may have parted ways in 2015, but those loyal listeners can take comfort as Liddle returns to limelight with a captivating first solo venture in Casual Labour.

Laced with the hushed celestial tones and nuanced lyrical observations that have always separated Liddle from his songwriting peers, Casual Labour delivers nine tracks of modern folk of the highest order.

Written gradually in the years that have elapsed since Dry the River disbanded, Liddle’s first solo release came together in his spare time as he turned his attention to a new career and began studying law. Taking shape in a box room in Bristol with vocals recorded in the early hours of the morning, Liddle was slow to realise he had laid the foundations of a solo album.

In due course, Liddle invited some old friends to a studio in Devon to flesh out those early demos. The finished article sees guest appearances and contributions from members of the Dry the River family including Scott Miller on bass, Patrick Pearson on keys, and Will Harvey arranging and performing strings, plus an appearance from singer/songwriter Matthew Reynolds (touring tech and "spiritual advisor” from the DtR days). 

The resultant record was ‘Casual Labour’, completed in just under 5 days, with Peter Miles (Eliza & The Bear, Lonely The Brave) taking production duties.

Speaking about ‘Casual Labour’, P.D. Liddle says:

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“When I was younger, I thought you wrote about the big events and huge milestones in your life – that you need emotional peaks and troughs to inspire you, but just participating in daily life is much more inspiring for me. The ethos of this record was if it’s really difficult, you’re not doing it right. If you’re having to push hard against something it’s probably not working. It was finding the path of least resistance…it's been a nice journey, discovering that.”

P.D. Liddle will perform at this year’s 2000trees Festival in the Cotswolds, and directly follows a string of comeback performances including his sold-out headline show at The Omeara, London in the spring, as well as sets at Frank Turner’s Lost Evenings II and Live At Leeds 2018.

facebook.com/pdlidd / Twitter: @pdlidd / www.pdliddle.com

WILL VARLEY EUROPEAN TOUR AUTUMN 2018 // TICKETS ON SALE NOW

Will Varley has announced a European tour for autumn 2018, and you can buy tickets now.

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Varley celebrated the release of his fifth studio album, Spirit of Minnie (buy it on vinyl, CD or download from our shop) with a packed-out show at London’s own Shepherd’s Bush Empire in February 2018. He then spent the first part of this year playing his new album live around the world; touring extensively in the US, appearing at SXSW festival in Texas and selling out venues across the UK and Europe. 

Described recently by Donovan as "the next generation” and counting the likes of Billy Bragg, Tim Minchin and Frank Turner among his fans, it seems the rambling songwriter who cut his teeth haunting the open mics of south London is finally getting the attention he deserves. Don’t miss him across Europe this autumn. 

Full dates below:

SEPTEMBER 2018
26 Cologne, Germany @ Bumann & Sohn
27 Hamburg, Germany @ Hebebühne
28 Berlin, Germay @ Cassiopeia
29 Podnań, Poland @ Meskalina
30 Vienna, Austria @ Chelsea

OCTOBER 2018
01 Munich, Germany @ Kranhalle
02 Zurich, Switzerland @ Hafenkneipe
03 Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso
04 Paris, France @ Pop up du label

facebook.com/willvarleymusic / Twitter: @WillVarleyMusic / willvarley.com

SKINNY LISTER + FRIENDS 'END OF YEAR PARTY' IN LONDON ON 12 DECEMBER 2018

To celebrate another triumphant year that has seen Skinny Lister travel twice around the US, play countless shows and festivals across Europe and UK to ever increasing crowds, the shanty punk pioneers will be hosting a huge end of year party to remember.

Taking place on 12 December at London’s The Garage, the sextet will swell their ranks as they invite friends, peers and guest musicians to join them for an all-out, one-off set. The ‘End of Year Party' will be an unmissable riotous barrage of songs, drinking, more songs and dancing, dancing, dancing.

Tickets are available from 9am on Friday 11 May. Buy tickets.