Free Skibunny Show, Friday 19th, Tower Records Dublin

Skibunny play a free show at Tower Records, Wicklow Street, Dublin on Friday lunchtime 19th November from 1pm.

Ice, Sea, Dead People Free Show @ Rough Trade East

4 Or 5 Magicians & Ace Bushy Striptease: Tour, Free MP3s

It's been a bit of a rollercoaster, featuring a little turbulence, and the usual slow drip of tedious email exchanges, but we have finally fully confirmed a Craig David style tour of seven dayyys with Ace Bushy Striptease in October. Here are the dates in full:

Thurs 14th : LONDON Big Chill House, Kings Cross (FREE ENTRY)
Fri 15th : BRIGHTON The Hobgoblin
Sat 16th : BOURNEMOUTH The Green Room @ The Portman Hotel
Sun 17th : BRISTOL Mother's Ruin
Mon 18th : BIRMINGHAM The Victoria
Tues 19th : MANCHESTER Tiger Lounge
Weds 20th : NOTTINGHAM Spanky Van Dykes

And click here to download an mp3 from each band - Oh Darwin from the 4 or 5 Magicians album and Bon Nuit, J'ai Changé Mon Esprit by ABS.

Quite excited about making our first trip to both Manchester and Nottingham, and a long awaited return to old haunts in the three Bs of Birmingham, Bristol and Bournemouth. Oh and Brighton and London too, of course.

Rob, who was gonna be playing the drums on tour, has had to withdraw due to an unexpected promotion at work, but instead it now looks highly likely that we'll be doing the tour with a special guest borrowed from a supercool band occupying the drum stool. More info on this in due course!

On tour we will be showcasing new material which will feature on the next album, hopefully out next spring. Just demoed two of them yesterday (with a lovely chap called Rob at a place called Ford Lane Studios in West Sussex) and even the dodgy rough mixes sound ace! The plan is to record the album in November and December, so this may well be the last time you get to see 4 or 5 Magicians until 2011!

I realise this has been a slow year for the band for various reasons, but by the time the year is out I'll almost certainly have an album recorded and be really focused heading into the new year. I have high hopes for the new stuff, come see us play some of it on tour!

Dan

x

Skibunny Belfast Barge Launch Poster

Skibunny Belfast Album Launch Line-up Announced

As we may have mentioned already, our debut album HUGS is released on Monday 27th September. To celebrate the release, we will be throwing NOT ONE, but TWO special parties, in BELFAST and EDINBURGH. Here’s the details for BELFAST - it’s on a BOAT!

SKIBUNNY “HUGS” ALBUM LAUNCH PARTY
featuring
SKIBUNNY plus very special guests!
STUART BRAITHWAITE (DJ set)
RAMS POCKET RADIO (solo)
CONEY ISLAND SOUND(DJ set)
visuals by the 15 Second Film Festival
at
THE BARGE, BELFAST (between Waterfront Hall and Queens Bridge)
WEDNESDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER
DOORS 8PM (Curfew 11pm)
ADMISSION IS FREE!

Capacity is strictly limited to 100, entry guaranteed by advance subscription to info@smalltownamerica.co.uk

AND it’s all part of Belfast’s Music Week, in association with MTV

Free Illness Show This Thursday

Illness play a free London show this Thursday with the incredible Pneu and future tourmates Shield Your Eyes.

My Device, Illness: ROTA @ Notting Hill Arts Club Tomorrow

Tomorrow sees another fine ROTA line-up at the Notting Hill Arts Club headlined by Shifty Disco's My Device. Doors are at 4pm, it wraps up at 8pm, it's completely free to get in and what the link above doesn't tell you is that a band STA are getting very excited about, Brighton two-piece Illness, will be opening the show up. Here's them in their practice space...

Free ASIWYFA Belfast Show

Hey guys!

Monday the 15th of Feb is the date and its a free instore show at HMV in Belfast!

Who's coming?! Starts at around 5pm, so get there early to make sure you get in! Should be LETHAL (I always thought "lethal" was actually spelt "leathal", it also is giving me an annoying red line under "spelt" thats a word isn't it? Its not spelled is it? That doesn't get a red line?!?! AHHHHH, stupid international spell checks that got me questioning the world!

Anyway, the important things are:

MONDAY
FEB 15TH
5PM
HMV - BELFAST
TOTALLY FREE!

Cheers

Sam ASIWYFA Team

PS - Let us know if you are coming and also if you can help on my grammatical quandary!

And So I Watch You Live In Tower Records

TOWER LIVE IS BACK

2009 was a truly phenomenal year for TOWER RECORDS' legendary in-store appearances. More than 100 amazing acts from all over the world (as far afield as CANADA, AUSTRALIA, and even JAPAN), not to mention major homegrown talent, strutted their stuff on the Dublin Wicklow Street boards.

Unforgettable performances were delivered by MUMFORD & SONS, DIRECTOR and WOODPIGEON, to name just a few.

Who could forget the day the legend STEVE VAN ZANT broadcast his highly acclaimed show from the store (word has it he wants to come back??? Watch this space!)

We also played host to 7 out of the 10 acts that were nominated for this year's Choice Music awards, including hot favorites DUCKWORTH LEWIS METHOD, VALERIE FRANCIS, and, our first guests of the new season, AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR. Anyone who witnessed their last in-store will testify to an astonishing performance. It's safe to say that this upcoming gig is not one to be missed under any circumstances. You are advised to get here early as space is limited.

We also welcome back the mighty POWER OF DREAMS. The guys will be in to celebrate the 20th anniversary re-release of their brillant debut album IMMIGRANTS EMIGRANTS AND ME. Again this is one in-store to be missed at your peril.

Other highlights include up and coming acts, AT LAST AN ATLAS, DIRTY9'S and former TURN frontman OLIVER COLE.

FULL LIST OF MARCH INSTORES

MARCH 2nd - AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR - 7PM
MARCH 4th - THE CHAPMAN SOCIETY - 6pm
MARCH 5th - KEITH MULLINS - 1pm
MARCH 11th - AT LAST AN ATLAS - 6pm
MARCH 12th - POWER OF DREAMS - 1pm
MARCH 25th - DIRTY 9's - 6pm
MARCH 26 - OLIVER COLE - 1pm

SATURDAY APRIL 17th - IS THE DATE FOR THIS YEAR'S WORLD INDEPENDENT RECORD STORE DAY
After amazing sets from Heathers, Neil Hannon, Mundy and many more last year, we can promise this year's day-long in-store sensation is going to be even bigger and better!!!!

As always all in-stores are free and for all ages

For more info please contact jamese@towerrecords.ie

Also reported here by Hot Press

ASIWYFA Play Instore At Tower Records Dublin

TUESDAY 2nd MARCH @ 7pm
Wicklow Street Branch
More details to follow

Free Ice, Sea, Dead People Show - London - Friday 22nd

4 Or 5 Magicians Tour Begins Today

Tour begins today!! I haven't been to bed yet but I'm going to hit the hay shortly, and get a good 9 hours in before we head off to Cardiff, the first time we have actually rented a van, and hit the road with another band for (almost) every show!

Once again, the tour calls at :

5th : Cardiff Buffalo Bar
6th : Bath Moles
7th : Coventry Taylor John's House (afternoon show - on at 3:40pm)
8th : Camden The Flowerpot
9th : Portsmouth Cellars
10th : Brighton Hobgoblin
11th : Southampton Hamptons
12th : Bristol Start The Bus
13th : Newport Le Pub
14th : Oxford The Cellar
15th : Reading Oakford Social Club

All shows are with The Muscle Club, except Coventry and Reading, and all shows are headlined by either us or The Muscle Club, apart from Coventry which is an all dayer, Bath which is headlined by Cold Cave who are an American electro band (gonna be a bit odd that one!), and Reading which is headlined by Violet Violet - a band whose drummer once screamed "AMERICAN HI-FI!!!" at me at a show we did in Norwich, quite unexpectedly.

I highly recommend the show at The Flowerpot in Camden, which is a free entry show, from 6:00pm to 10:30pm, featuring a brilliant bill I have myself curated - Us, The Muscle Club, Stagecoach, Lola And The Clic, and Eelectricity and Lust (their debut gig!).

I'm also putting on the Brighton show which is also free (though we are heavily suggesting a £2 donation to cover tour expenses) with the totally rocking Everyone To The Anderson, and the splendidly spooky Spacenoid.

Lets hope we make it round in one piece eh? I've got a Blue Roses gig to get back for on the 16th!

In other news, we have received some awesome coverage in Rock Sound magazine this month, which I believe came out today.

Not only are we the top band in editor Darren Taylor's 'Decks Of Death' (hehe!), there is also a little feature on us, with spliced bits of an interview I did, and 'Forever On The Edge' is featured on the covermount CD.

The main news though is that they awarded 'Empty, Derivative Pop Songs' a grand score of 8/10, and a nice write up. Hopefully the first of a string of good reports!

To read all this, go and buy a copy, or if you can't wait to see what they wrote, there are cuttings of the article hosted here on the smalltown america blog.

See you on tour,

Dan xx

Nice Little Earner Free Download Released Today

In case you missed the subtle banner at the top of the page...

Yep, you can download our track Nice Little Earner for free as of today!

It is currently available from Music Glue and Band Camp

It is also available on a massively limited CD (only 50 copies) with an exclusive b-side not available anywhere else - an alternate take of album track Out Of My Hands. This will only be available from us at shows for the sum of £1.50, so if you want one, you better come and see us play!

Talking of Brighton, anyone in our lovely city can come to our single launch tonight, Monday 12th October, at Hectors House. Again it is free entry and we are joined by our friends Man Ray Sky, Stagecoach, and Duke Raoul. Opens at 7:30pm, starts at 8:00pm, we are on about 10:00pm, or shortly after. Yes!

Also remember you can pre-order our album and receive a Live in Bristol bonus CD if you are one of the first 25. I know for a fact a few have already been pre-ordered as I have received a number of messages telling me (thanks to those of you that have contacted me!). So you better hurry up if you want the bonus CD!

Get downloading, and if you're in Brighton, see you later!

Dan x

Ice Sea Dead People - New Bass Player

Here's a update from Craig on changes to the Ice Sea Dead People board of directors:

So Eddy's in America, and David and I aren't. We're all cool to continue so I'm picking up the six strings and passing on the bass to Jamie.

His first gig with us is in Brighton today at the Hobgoblin, which is FREE. Playing with us are 5 other bands including chums Rodeo Death Burger and a secret act opening the night...

4 Or 5 Magicians Play Free Notting Hill Show

The Art Brut of Brighton, 4 Or 5 Magicians play a free Saturday afternoon show at Notting Hill Arts Club tomorrow with William and Talons for Clash magazine. Doors at 4pm.

Calories star in Music Sounds Better With Huw

Great name for a great comp. Plus good to see a bunch of blogcasted bands selected for inclusion. As previously reported, Calories open a Huw Stephens curated compilation out now on Wichita Recordings. Check out the MSBWH for band profiles and more.

Here's what your £4.99 gets you

Adventuring - Calories
You Are My Coal Mine - Copy Haho
World War II, Pt. 2 - Wax Fang
Oh! (Plugs Remix) - We Have Band
The Crapsons - Pulled Apart By Horses
Suitcase Man - Hjaltalín
Woe Unto Me to Get High - Sweet Baboo
See If I Float - Cyclones
Sorrysayer - Swanton Bombs
Eighty-Eight - Banjo Or Freakout
Clean Break - Gentle Friendly
Bring it Home - Young Fathers
Pull the House Down - Stricken City
Solid State Messiah (vs. The Valve Viking) - Holy State
Lasers - Gallops
Somewhere Out There a Dog Is On Fire - Tubelord
Opposites Attract - Dinosaur Pile-Up
4 Minute Warning - Portasound
Oyasumi Baby - Colorama
Everybody - Gold Teeth
Like Totally - Gold Panda

There's even a FREE launch event on Tuesday 9th June at the Social, Little Portland Street, London W1 with sets from Stricken City, Copy Haho, Gallops and Gold Panda. Doors 8pm.

Calories Free London Show

Home of the legendary STA All-dayers, 93 Feet East, are hosting a free night on Friday 20th March featuring Calories plus loads of other bands. Calories are on stage at 11pm - come on down and buy them a drink!