25/12/08
Merry Christmas to everyone! Hope you all got the pressies you wanted...
11/12/08
Another place for the album in someone's Top Ten albums of 2008 - On The Trail of the Great blog has "Everyone Loves a Villain" at No.9 (just ahead of Coldplay at 10!). They say - "a fantastic set of songs that sound like what you might get were you to stick Squeeze, the Beatles and Jellyfish in a blender". Oh and another great review of the album just came in from Powerpopaholic.com, giving it 8/10 and saying "A stunner here is 'The Girl Who Broke Her Own Heart' which could be called the classic Brit-pop ballad".
07/12/08
So, not only did the album reach no.11 in the Vibrations "Albums of the Year" (according to the podcast!) but it also made no.4 in the This Is What We Do Now music blog: They say - "This brilliantly catchy, creative and inventive record teems with unexpected chord changes and melodies throughout".
01/12/08
The Vibrations interview turned out pretty well, with only one slight discrepancy - it says that my previous band, Theory of Everything ended through lack of interest on the part of the other guys - this was a bit of artistic licence on the interviewer's behalf; I was the one who decided to call it a day! Other than that though, a really well written article. Vibrations is now available from music shops, venues and rehearsal rooms across Leeds, and will be online in a couple of weeks. I've added Liz Ainge's photos to my gallery. The brief given to her by her editors was to come up with something dark and surreal, and I think she hit the nail on the head: Cheers Liz! I've just realised that I never put up the Raw Talent interview / acoustic session from a few months back, so I'll rectify this asap - it was fun...
29/11/08
Ok, so I didn't quite make the cover of Vibrations magazine, but there's an interview, new photos and a place in the top 20 albums of the year in December / January's edition, out Monday. Plus the Vibrations team can be heard debating the merits of various releases this year (including 'Everyone Loves a Villain") on their podcast... More good news - as I previously mentioned, the album is being re-released in March and I'm happy to say that GPromo PR will be doing the press. Fingers crossed for a couple of reviews in the national music mags! I'm in the process of booking a mini tour to support the re-release and I'm chuffed to announce that Bruce (The Lodger, Somatics) and Rob C (Loqui) will be re-enlisting for Captain Wilberforce live duties; they should be joined by Dan (ex Rent) and Harry (Samsa). I'm really excited about this line up as it should give us the opportunity to nail the backing vocals - both Rob and Dan are the singers in their respective bands and Harry provides great BVs in his. Make sure to join the mailing list below to keep updated of dates across the country in Feb / March 09.
18/11/08
How time flies. In the last 2 months I have been doing stuff, honest! Rehearsals are now underway for some gigs in the new year. This will coincide with the re-release of "Everyone Loves a Villain" - I've decided to do this for a couple of reasons: The first is that I didn't approach national press first time round due to problems finding a press company. The second is that the album has had so many great internet reviews which in turn might help get some magazine reviews. Might all come to nothing, but I'll enjoy the gigs anyway! On a similar topic, I was interviewed by Vibrations Magazine a few weeks back and today had a photoshoot with Liz Ainge which was fun - the results will be in the Dec/Jan issue of the mag and I'm already a bit nervous about what I said and what the hell I'm going to look like, but we'll see soon enough! One piece of really sad news to tell is that Wil Woodrowe passed away recently. I met Wil at the International Pop Overthrow Festival 3 years ago - he liked my stuff and took some band photos, so we kept in touch. He also promoted bands and it was a shame that I never got to play one of his nights, but I think there'll be a tribute to him at next year's IPO festival, which I'll be attending if I'm not playing.
19/09/08
Just got the nod that The Girl Who Broke Her Own Heart will be "track of the day" on Garageband next Monday. Click to view...
12/09/08
Dissertation handed in. No more excuses for being lax on the site updates! So if you click here you'll find all the newest reviews for "Everyone Loves a Villain". The last couple, from HabloEnnui and Absolute PowerPop have been particularly complimentary...
03/08/08
More good news from the IAC website. "The Girl Who Broke Her Own Heart" is now no. 18 on the KIAC Big 50 radio chart and no. 2 in the Alternative Modern Rock chart. At the same time, Not Lame have sold out of the album 3 times already and it's a similar story with CDBaby (who are selling the album on MP3 format now too!). The album is also available as an MP3 download at PayPlay, E-Music, Napster and Amazon.
The response has been so good, that I'm thinking of re-releasing the album later in the year when I'm not so caught up in studying and can do a proper tour to support it. More news to follow as soon as I've finished writing this dissertation!
02/07/08
New review just in from Net Rhythms and it's a bit of a corker. A snippet - "There's not a duff track here, but special attention should really be directed at the title track which is both reminiscent of and as good as anything on Sgt Pepper...". Also, I've just uploaded "The Girl Who Broke Her Own Heart" onto a US website called Independent Artist's Company and within 3 days it has made the top 50 (from around 100,000 songs) in their radio playlist. It's a good site, so take a look if you get a chance. Finally KoolKatMusic are now selling the CD in the states; which is good, as CDBaby has currently sold out and Not Lame are running out fast. I'm shipping more over asap, and in the meantime you can always buy the album from here.
