THE LATEST NEWS 2012 Dear friends and supporters, First of all, a very happy and slightly belated new year to you all. I hope you had a wonderful time over the Christmas and new year holidays. I want to begin this final news update (more of that later...) with a couple of dates for your diary. West Country band Electrasy are reuniting this coming weekend for a couple of local gigs. Many of you will remember Ali and co from the giddy heights of their pop stardom in the late 90s when they scored a top 20 hit in the UK before heading over to the States and a deal with Arista. They don’t play very often these days, so catch them while you can.
Saturday
21st January 2012 @ The Royal Portland Arms, Portland, UK Phil Jackson of Zeitgeist/Acid Dragon/Paradox One fame sent me his “Festive 40/Best of 2011 Releases” list and I was very happy to see three Pink Hedgehog artists featured amongst Phil’s choice of his favourite music from last year:
Peter
Lacey We
are the Sand (Pink Hedgehog) To see the full list please visit Phil's site here. Veteran DJ and much-admired champion of the underground, Lord Litter, has managed to put a huge smile on my face by producing a “Pink Hedgehog Records Special” as his first show of the year for Californian radio station KWTF. Just take a look at the playlist below and you’ll see why I’m still grinning!
Pink Hedgehog Special (January 2012, KWTF) 1.
Simon Felton - Peepshow (Surrender, Dorothy!) You can listen to and download the show in full here.
Peter Lacey’s latest album has proved another huge success for him and Endless Summer Quarterly editor David Beard has written an article entitled ‘We Are The Sand expands SMiLE influence’ for Examiner, which can be read here. What with one thing and another, I failed to get that Garfields Birthday special email out, but instead I would like to share with you the photo album I have created for our recent acoustic tour of Germany. Please feel free to leave comments. You can see one of the performances from the tour, together with videos from other Pink Hedgehog artists by visiting our channel at YouTube.
So that’s all the good news then... now for the not-so-good bit. I’m sure it won’t be a surprise to many of you, but I’ve decided to end the physical side of the label once and for all. Of course this was supposed to be happening a year ago, but we had a temporary reprieve. Twelve months down the line, I’m afraid things haven’t improved and I’m really left with no other option – from January 31st 2012 there will be no more physical label. Unfortunately the CD (physical) part of the label has become almost impossible to sustain; becoming a liability rather than an asset, with much needed income from digital sales (downloads) often being wiped out by the amount of physical stock being returned from retailers. Without serious money (that we don’t have) being spent on decent PR and advertising campaigns, we aren’t able to sell physical releases in any quantity that can justify continuing. Effectively, as a tiny label, we can’t survive in an increasingly money-driven, rather than music-driven industry. From the end of this month I will cease to operate a mail order service from our website and in most cases the bands/artists themselves will be responsible for selling their own releases in the future. I have more CDs here at my house than I did a year ago, so there’s still a lot of music that needs to find a good home. For the next two weeks I am having one final clearance sale of our releases – ALL CDs are now just ONE POUND each, plus postage.
I’m hoping that by offering the remaining stock at such a low price I can find last-minute homes for some of these fine releases – hopefully you can use it as an opportunity to fill and gaps in your Pink Hedgehog collections! At the end of this month the CDs will be unavailable to order through me and therefore I can’t really predict how easily available they will be and what they may cost in the future. For once last time, please do consider having a look at what we have on offer, but more importantly, for one last time THANK YOU! I’ve been running the label for nearly 18 years now and it’s (mostly) been a pleasure... I have made many new friends all over the world and I’ve been proud to be able to share so much wonderful music with you all! Keep listening, but from me, that’s all folks! Take care, Simon X.
December 2011 What better way to begin this month's update than with two brand new releases! The first is We are the Sand by Peter Lacey and it's released on 5th December 2011. Such is the loyalty and dedication of Peter’s fan base, only 25 copies of the limited CD version remain! You can listen to the title track of the album right here and if you would like to order one of those remaining limited edition CDs please click here. If you are in the USA you can get hold of a copy from Kool Kat Musik. There is a great interview with Peter, Stevie Kalinich and David Beard up at the Ear Candy site and the first reviews are already in, including a nice one in the latest issue of Shindig! magazine, read them here. Finally, a video to the song 'Drinkin' in the Sunshine' has also been made with the help of Close to the Hedge, you should be able to see it here.
The second of our great new releases, which came out on 28th November 2011, is the latest stunning album by Mondo Jet Set, called Ha Ha Ha. Without a doubt the most concise and satisfying of all their releases to date, you can hear a full length preview of one of the tracks here. As with Peter's latest, there are just 100 limited CD versions of the album available and you can claim yours by going here. There are also two groovy videos just waiting for your gaze on YouTube, both songs are taken from Ha Ha Ha and are well worth your attention, they are 'Funny Ha Ha, Bed Sitting Room' (watch it here) and 'Ancient Green Carpet', which can be viewed here.
My own latest album, Surrender, Dorothy! was also favourably reviewed in the new Shindig! magazine, have a read of it here if you fancy it. If you’re looking for a special Christmas present for a special person, all of the above mentioned albums can be ordered direct from Pink Hedgehog by going to our online store. The German tour with Garfields Birthday and Si Jubb was hugely enjoyable and such a rare treat to be able to perform our songs to new and attentive ears in some very welcoming and friendly venues. I will send out another email later in the week, with links to photos and videos from the shows. If you simply can’t wait that long, the link below will take you to some pictures of the show we did at Bremen University, featuring close up shots of me pulling a variety of facial contortions. Nobody ever said we were Duran Duran... the picture below, meanwhile, was taken during a breakfast radio interview!
Until next time, take care and keep warm, Simon. November 2011 Following on from last months announcement about our two new releases, I can confirm that we now have official release dates for both albums and the limited edition CDs are already in stock and ready to order. Ha Ha Ha by Mondo Jet Set will be out first on 28th November, followed a week later by Peter Lacey's We are the Sand on 5th December. Both albums will be available to download from all the usual digital music providers, but the collectors and traditionalists amongst you will be more interested to know we have 100 CD versions available of each release as well. The CDs are very high quality limited edition CD-Rs, but come as a clear jewel case, with a full colour sleeve, onbody design and even cellowraps! Use the links below to find out more about both albums and to hear MP3 clips.
Monday
14th November ~ Big Buttinsky, Osnabruck (9 pm) And finally, our Autumn sale will end on 11th November, so don't leave it too late to grab yourself one of the many bargains to be found there! The next update will be after the German tour and Christmas will be just around the corner! Keep warm, Simon. October 2011 Hello everyone, Our Indian Summer didn’t last very long here in the UK; still, it was an unexpected treat and we shouldn’t grumble, it is Autumn after all and I don’t mind the taste of Winter in the air – I tend to get more done when it’s cold outside. Anyway, not that much to share with you this month, but just enough to warrant an update I reckon. We have two brand new albums around the corner; they are finished and now entering the manufacturing stages! One is the very latest by Peter Lacey, which sees him changing course somewhat, collaborating once again with poet/songwriter Stephen John Kalinich and also David Beard – editor of Endless Summer Quarterly, the celebrated Brian Wilson/Beach Boys magazine, have a look at their website here.
The stunning new album is called We are the Sand and really does see Peter rejuvenated and growing artistically - made all the more exciting and interesting by the involvement of Stephen and David. There will be an initial pressing of just 100 physical copies available, together with a digital release, so please be quick if you want to grab yourself one of the CDs when they become available. I will let everyone know as soon as they are ready to order. The second of our new releases is by the very talented and super-cool, London-based outfit Mondo Jet Set. The album is called Ha, Ha, Ha and is without doubt the most musically satisfying, immediate and concise collection they’ve ever done. It’s a truly wonderful album, with fantastic songs and production, and in a more just world would have a sticker saying “Mercury Prize Winner” on the cover when it’s re-released next year! Again there will be an initial limited pressing on just 100 copies available, together with a digital release. Keep an eye out for full release details soon and songs to preview!
You may already know, but just in case you didn’t, we now have a SoundCloud page for the label. This has given me an excuse to revisit our entire back catalogue, starting with SMILE1 (the now almost mythical and out of print Let it Brie by Cheese) and go through all our releases one by one, choosing my favourite track on each and posting it up in full on the site. I am putting up a new track almost every day, so please pop over there and take a listen to some of my choices so far - I wonder if you agree with the songs I have gone with? I am up to SMILE14 at the moment, so there are still plenty more to go, you can find them here.
Once I have worked my way through all our past achievements, I will be uploading exclusive tracks to preview from our upcoming new releases. One of these new releases, which hasn’t yet been mentioned, is a new single from singer/songwriter Si Jubb - this will be our very first vinyl release! Keeping things typically old school, Si hand-picked musicians for his backing band and brought them all together one Saturday afternoon a few weeks back and recorded the new song live in a record shop. He even invited members of the public off the street to come and add handclaps and enthusiasm to the proceedings. The result is a distinctly northern-soul flavoured piece of pop, that will hopefully mark the beginning of a new chapter in Pink Hedgehog’s history!
For those of you local to Weymouth, the record shop was Chunes (9 Mitchell Street, Weymouth). Like myself, you may have thought that the (mostly vinyl) shop sold only dance music, but that is not the case - they have all sorts of wonderful music to explore, on both vinyl and CD. They even sell guitar and bass strings now, so you don’t have to travel all the way to Dorchester to buy them in person. They also offer a professional vinyl record cleaning service. But most importantly of all, they now stock Pink Hedgehog releases! It’s been ages since you could buy our stuff “off the shelf” in Weymouth, so please do pop along there sometime and have a look at what’s on offer - they really do need (and deserve) our support! Again, for those in the Dorset area, today sees the beginning of the 3-day LupusFest event at the newly refurbished and re-opened Kings Club in Weymouth. I’m planning to be there for much of the proceedings and my band Garfields Birthday will be taking part with a live set on Sunday evening. There is way too much good music to mention here, so please do check out their website for all the details and support the live music and fundraising activities that are taking place over the weekend.
Fans of the now Berlin-based Anton Barbeau will be pleased to know that his new album/project Three Minute Tease is into the final mixing stages. He has recently returned from a short tour of Spain, and will be playing some UK dates with 3MT over the next few weeks, including a support slot with his idol Julian Cope – that would be like me supporting Neil Young or Brian Wilson! Here are the dates: October
18 - Supporting Julian Cope October
20 - Three Minute Tease featuring Andy Metcalfe and
Morris Windsor October
21 - Three Minute Tease featuring Andy Metcalfe and
Morris Windsor October
23 - Three Minute Tease featuring Andy Metcalfe and
Morris Windsor Anton has also released his first ever retrospective “best of” album called Empire of Potential - it’s a perfect introduction to Anton’s music if you’re a bit uncertain about where to begin exploring his idiosyncratic world of wonder, take a look here. For people in the Bristol area, there’s just enough time to tell you about another must-see gig featuring Schnauser, Hi-Fiction Science and Roger Tarry. It’s happening on 7th October at The Croft, Stokes Croft and promises to be “a shuddering hulk of an evening with 3 psych/prog/folk/pop bands on the main stage at The Croft, squirting musical milk from their primed teats. Come along, it will almost certainly be fun!”, it certainly sounds like my kind of night. If for some reason you can’t make tonight’s happening, you can catch Schnauser again on: 12th
November at Spring Garden, Bristol, U.K. Our end of Summer Sale has turned into the equally marvellous Autumn Sale! With many of our titles now becoming (or close to becoming) out of print, now is the time to fill the gaps in your collections, or snap up an album that you’ve been thinking about buying, for a silly bargain price. Many of the CDs can be bought for just £2.99 (which includes free postage worldwide); so you can see it’s not really a money-making initiative, but as ever, an effort to tempt you into hearing some great music that has been made with a lot of dedication and commitment and just a little bit of love! Finally, most people now seem to be on FaceBook, including Pink Hedgehog, so next time you are logged in, please pop along and join us, or like us, or whatever it is that will make us look popular. I always post up the SoundCloud songs there every time a new track is uploaded, together with news on gigs and releases and anything else that might seem noteworthy at the time! Visit us here. Thanks for everything, please email me with any questions, comments or simply to say hallo! Take care, Simon. September 2011 Apparently this is the busiest weekend for us folks in the UK, in terms of people coming home from their holidays before the new school term starts, getting in a few more BBQs prior to the autumn chill kicking in, and also for music festivals. I heard on the news that the end of August bank holiday weekend has the most music-related festivals taking place in the UK than at any other time of the year – what with Reading, Leeds, Cream Fields, Notting Hill Carnival and of course The Boot Inn’s Summer BBQ and music festival in Weymouth. Although to be fair, I only heard about the last one because I’m playing there with my friend Steve Wilson. With that in mind, I’ll get on with this month’s news, as I have to re-learn a few songs ready for this evening and allow time for my 4 hour Sting-inspired meditation and Yoga session that I do before every gig these days.
Just in case you hadn’t noticed, my album Surrender, Dorothy! has been released and as with Pink Hedgehog’s usual covert/stealth approach to promoting and marketing our music, we have been able to keep it out of all the usual glossy music magazines, daily newspapers and off any commercial radio stations. However, thanks to the lovely people in the alternative/underground pop world that I like to think of myself as a part of, I’ve still managed to get some really nice reviews in already and tracks played on the cooler radio stations that are still out there waving the flag for the true independent music scene. Please click here to see what people have been saying about my new album - at least the nicer things they’ve been saying, we’ll ignore rest! If you aren’t one of the four people who have already bought the album, please do consider getting yourself a copy, I’m quite proud of it and I think you might enjoy it. I have even made a couple of DIY promo videos, with the help of my other half, to go with two of the mellower tracks on the album. I have already put them on YouTube so take a look when you get a moment. My dog Frodo steals the show on one of them - if you let the video play right to the end, you can hear him singing along (or barking out of disapproval), I haven’t decided which yet. Although he is a fan of the more acoustic and country/folk end of the music spectrum... I have discovered that James Taylor and Neil Young are the only artists I can play in the house where he doesn’t get up and leave the room. Anyway, here are the links to the videos: Simon Felton "Compatible" (Surrender, Dorothy!) Simon Felton "Slowing Down" (Surrender, Dorothy!) I am having a HUGE end of Summer Sale, where you can buy all our releases for greatly-reduced prices (starting at just £2.99 for many of the albums) including free postage world-wide. At the bottom of the page you can also find a list of the upcoming releases that are due in the remainder of 2011, including our very first vinyl single release, good eh? If you only click on one link today, please make it this one. Before moving on to other news (that doesn’t involve my own music!), I just wanted to thank all those of you in the Weymouth area who came along and supported the Garfields Birthday show at The Queens Hotel. We hardly ever get the chance to play an all-original set with the proper electric band these days, so it was a real buzz to be able to crank up the amps and have some fun. The highlight of the evening for me was having my brother Shane back on stage with us - just like the old times and we sounded better than ever. There is a fairly low-quality (but absolutely watchable) short clip of one of the songs take from the gig right here: Garfields Birthday "The Bastion of Teenage" (Live at The Queens Hotel) What else? Well, congratulations must go to Pink Hedgehog artist Alex Meadows (The Inexperienced/Electrasy). Some of you may already know that Alex is a much sought after session-player, having recorded and toured with the likes of Jamiroquai, Colin Blunstone and Tom Jones – well he can now be heard playing bass on the new Will Young album, produced by Richard X! OK, so perhaps Will Young isn’t going to be at the top of everyone’s Christmas list this year (who are reading this, I mean), but to be fair, Alex is a superb musician and I admire him for all his achievements. It’s a pretty accomplished, mature and chilled-out album and it’s rumoured to be entering the UK album charts at number 3 this week, having already gotten a 4 star review in the Guardian! Well done Alex and we look forward to the new Inexperienced album next year and some live performances of the band as well!
Elsewhere, Anton Barbeau’s new album with his dream-combo Three Minute Tease is nearing completion; those of you who are also on Ant’s mailing list will be getting all the updates about the project. It’s another album funded by the inspired Pledgemusic site, and once again Anton has proved that it works, which I find very reassuring, especially these days. Anton’s “Best of” album is also imminent – it’s called Empire of Potential and I will hopefully be getting some copies soon to sell via the Pink Hedgehog site! Also busy of late is Hamfatter guitarist James “Jimbo” Ingham who has a new project (with a working title of ‘Hogan’s Ghost’). He’s been in touch to let me know there is a demo of a song called 'Ultraviolet Nights' up on MySpace for people to preview – it’s not a million miles away from Hamfatter and I really like it, clever and melodic, and I urge you all to check it out and leave a nice comment which will make Jimbo smile. That’s probably enough for now I reckon. I’ve already run out of time for my Yoga and meditation, so I’ll have to settle for a quick shower and a sausage roll, but that’s fine, Pink Hedgehog is its own lifestyle choice, and one which I made many years ago! Take care and thanks for all your support, Simon x. August 2011 I hope everyone is enjoying the summer in a way that suits you best. I’ve been hithering and thithering all over the place from Oxford to Glastonbury and London to Wareham; and more recently have found myself starting a new job to boot! But the most exciting news is that my new solo album Surrender, Dorothy! is out now and just waiting to find a place in your music collections. I won’t try and “sell it” to you myself as I’m not too great at that sort of thing (selling music has never been a strong point of mine, as most Pink Hedgehog artists will sadly testify!), but I will copy the first couple of reviews just in below, by noted power-pop writers Jeff Penczak and Aaron Kupferberg. If after reading them you are tempted to buy yourself a copy, then please consider clicking on one of the links below, I would genuinely appreciate your support!
The best place to order your copy of the album (from my point of view!) would be direct from this site - I will lovingly put the CD into a jiffy bag myself and probably get it in the post the same day! It will cost you £7.99 including postage to wherever in the world you might be. If you’re in the UK, then HMV have undercut me and you can get it from them for just £6.99; Play.com have it at £7.99, whilst Amazon are charging the unusual price of £9.56, but have been good to us in the past so we’ll overlook it! If you live in the USA then my good friend Ray at Kool Kat Musik has copies for you at $11 so please visit his site if you are across the pond. If you prefer to download, then it goes without saying that iTunes and all the other online music providers have the album and it's just a few clicks away. Download Surrender, Dorothy! from iTunes or buy on CD from our Pop Store here. You can also order copies from: HMV here If you’d like to preview a couple of the tracks first, then I have put up one of the songs in full at Soundcloud and another clip can be reached here. So, thanks as ever for your support, please get in touch if you have any questions, of if you’re interested in buying copies at a special trade/wholesale price; or if you just want to say hello and let me know what you’ve been up to in these less than certain times. Take care and I will leave you with those reviews, Simon x. Happening Magazine "Sophomore solo effort from Garfield’s Birthday leader focuses on his vocal stylings, leaving most of the instrumental backing to labelmates, Al (Lucky Bishops) Strawbridge and Anton Barbeau. Felton has an emotive voice that perfectly suits his power poppish tunes, which occasionally remind of vintage Squeeze. ‘Marbles’ and ’Surprise’ are obvious hits, but ‘Finally’, ‘Compatible’, and ‘Slowing Down’ reveal a gift for tender, romantic ballads that greatly expands his musical palette. Get these tunes in Robbie Williams’ hands and Mr. Felton will be a very rich man! Backwards pianos, swirling synths, and groovy mellotrons and wurlitzers, prevent the tunes from miring in a repetitive rut, and Strawbridge’s unobtrusive production keeps things moving along at a light and airy pace. Felton still has a great gift for composing catchy ear candy that sticks in the head for days and Surrender Dorothy! will be stuck in my CD player all summer." (Jeff Penczak) Powerpopaholic "Pink Hedgehog head honcho, Simon Felton (Garfield's Birthday) follows up his solo debut with the help of label mates Alan Strawbridge (Schnauser) and cult hero Anton Barbeau. Strawbridge's psychedelic influence really paints the pop of 'Marbles' and other tracks with his distinct reverse guitar and organ touches. Felton's quintessential casual British vocal keeps things moving along on the groovy 'Surprise', it sounds very much like the pysch-pop of The Pillbugs. A sad croon is present on the mellow 'Finally' and fans of sixties "toytown" era pop (The Idle Race, The Mindbenders) will love the ironically titled 'Novelty'. The ballads here have never been better, and the brilliant 'Slowing Down' is one of the best written songs here. The album devolves into Pink Floyd/Moody Blues styled naval gazing on the last several tracks, but fans of psychedelia will be in nirvana." (Aaron Kupferberg) More reviews can be read here as they come in! Summer 2011 As you can see, we have survived the winter and spent the spring in deep thought; and now the summer will see us rejuvinated and very much back in the pink. Largely due to the abundance of good feeling that was eminating from the Electric Palace back in January, but also due to the energy, enthusiasm and endless supply of ideas provided by our new label partner and hedgehog fancier Nigel Davis. Together we have come up with a host of new strategies and plans to ensure the survival of the label and we can now say for certain that Pink Hedgehog lives! To prove this we have a brand new album due for release in August; and guess what, it's by me!
Yes, that second album that I recorded with Alan Strawbridge and Anton Barbeau will now see light of day - as a proper CD and as an invisible download. This will be the first of 3 new releases planned for the re-launched label during the remainder of 2011. That should give us sufficient time to implement some of our new ideas for marketing and promotion; and then hopefully, with the help of you good people, we can continue to grow and support our artists for many years to come. We have both CD and vinyl releases planned for the coming months, and an extensive European tour towards the end of the year, so please do keep an eye out for more updates and news coming your way soon. But first, click here to hear a clip from the new album and read all about it by going here. The album is in stock now and ready to order! Given the huge role Anton Barbeau has played in getting both of my albums made, together with his long-time relationship with Pink Hedgehog, I'm happy to share this personal message from him, regarding his latest project, and encourage you all to go along to his page at Pledge Music and enjoy all the treats to be found there.
"Hi. I'm Anton Barbeau. I'm from California, but now live in Cambridge, England, and am a musician and songwriter who plays what's been mysteriously described as "pre-apocalyptic psychedelic pop". My latest project is Three MInute Tease, a band I've formed with bassist Andy Metcalfe and drummer Morris Windsor – heroes of mine since I first heard them in Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians. We're in the midst of making our debut album, and raising funds to complete it through Pledgemusic.com. Through this site, you can support and participate in the making of the record by pre-ordering the album, either as a download or disc. We're also offering extra treats – exclusive limited-edition EPs, signed band photos, original artwork, homemade cakes (UK only!), and more. No money is taken until we reach our target, but 10% of any funds raised beyond goes to Sweet Relief, a US charity that provides financial assistance to musicians with high health care costs. As a musician in the UK, I'm grateful to have the NHS, but for many of my friends back home, health care is a constant worry, so this charity is close to my heart We've come up with a series of videos to let you in behind the scenes on the process/progress of the album, and we'll keep adding more. For now, please come visit the Three Minute Tease Pledge site to enjoy the films already up and our new songs in progress. I hope you'll consider helping us get this record out! Thanks very much.. Ant." The first link below will take you to the project's page and the other two are videos showing some of the recording taking place at Remote Farm and Shonk Studios - look out for Stornoway adding their sublime backing vocals to one of the tracks: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/threeminutetease http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/threeminutetease/updates/4982 http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/threeminutetease/updates/4811 There's plenty more to come, thanks for all your support and take care, Simon. March 2011 As the hedgehog sleeps away the cold winter months, I have escaped to Taiwan once again to learn a few more Chinese words (I'm up to around six now!) and make plans for the future - mostly of a musical nature, of course. Meanwhile, things are very much still happening in my absence; some of which you can read about in this little news update. First off, belated thanks to everyone who made the Pink Hedgehog Night at the Electric Palace in Bridport such a huge success - it was an evening of great music, good friends coming together and lots of smiling faces. All the artists played superb sets and you can see some of the performances on YouTube, where else? Also, click here to see a few more photos from the wonderful night!
Schnauser "Napoleon" Video Eoin/Hamfatter "Pyramid Song" Video Cheese "Hardly Officer Material" Video The Steve Wilson Band "Pretty Girl in a Small Town" Video As you can see from the above clip, Eoin performed a solo Hamfatter set on a banjo and won over the audience with gorgeous and fragile renditions of his songs, as well as treating us to some brand new compositions. The brand new Hamfatter album is now out and has been reviewed by John Aizlewood in no less than Q Magazine:
"After four albums scrabbling around the indie depths, the splendidly named Hamfatter appeared on Dragon's Den begging for £75,000 to record their next three albums. Amazingly, Dragon Peter Jones succumbed. Wisely they've spent their cash on a top-notch production from Joe Chicarelli (he's engineered Frank Zappa, Elton John and U2). A big, lush sound suits Hamfatter, and 'Iceland' seems to be propelled by an orchestra, even if they sound more like the Kaiser Chiefs than recent Kaiser Chiefs on 'The Beats'. Elsewhere, 'BBC VI' and 'So We Go' are rammed with curly, insistent melodies. Jones just might get his money back." You can hear the epic 'Iceland' in full at our MySpace page. A track off the new album was included in their Q50, which is Q Magazine's essential top 50 downloads of the month! Click here to find out which track was chosen and to see if you agree! The album is available to download from all the usual places, but if you want to get your hands on one of the limited edition CDs of the album then pop along to our store! Those of you who were at the label night may remember a short and everso slightly enigmatic announcement being made towards the end of the evening. For the rest of you who weren't at the Electric Palace, or if you were there but got a little too Tipsy McStagger to know what was happening at the time , allow me to summarise. Whilst Pink Hedgehog is in hibernation, many things are happening behind the scenes. The plan is to effectively re-launch the label in the Summer, with many new and exciting things being introduced throughout the year; including a new look website with a lot more interactive features, better ways of keeping up to date with what's happening with the label and it's artists and of course plenty of great new music! Whilst these plans are hatched and put into motion, I will still be updating the current site and sending out occasional updates. I have also been adding songs to our SoundCloud page over the last few weeks. There are some complete mp3 tracks available to download, including one track off the brand new Garfields Birthday album and three other gems from the archives that have never been released before. Finally, those of you reading this that are local to Dorset, may well know that I have been hosting a monthly songwriters night for the last few years in Weymouth. Well despite a few recent hiccups and the fact that I am currently thousands of miles away, I am pleased to say that Joe from Portland band Hallelujah Bay is now running the night at a brand new venue. So check local press for details and please do go along and support him - I shall be heading there myself, with my new songs scribbled on sick bags from my return flight, just as soon as I'm back in Blighty! Take care, Simon. January/February 2011 Hello to all our friends and supporters, I hope you had a great Christmas and are looking forward to a fun and creative new year. I want to start by letting you all know that we are having a January Sale which you can visit here. This is our last big push at finding homes for our releases prior to Pink Hedgehog going into hibernation. Many of the titles are now half price or better, so please do take a look when you get the chance. We still have the Label Night to look forward to on 22nd January 2011 and a couple more releases over the coming months, but aside from that, the label will be having a well-earned rest. As a way of tempting you to visit our sale, I am putting up FREE mp3s of songs from the archives, starting with a b-side recorded by Garfields Birthday back in 2005. You will find a link to download the complete song at the bottom of the sale page. I will be adding new tracks every couple of days!
And now to the exciting news of the the Pink Hedgehog Night which is happening at The Electric Palace in Bridport on 22nd January 2011. I'm going to hand things over to musician and journalist Marco Rossi to reveal all in his own unique style! The year 1994 earns its distinguished niche in history thanks to a very significant birth: Justin Bieber, on March 1. Simultaneously, near as dammit, another momentous birth was taking place: namely, the birth of Dorset’s stalwart indie record label Pink Hedgehog. This particular birth was not without its setbacks, but hey: you try giving birth to a Pink Hedgehog. Ooo, spiney. Pink Hedgehog owes its existence to Simon Felton, who in 1994 was the proverbial ‘young man who had a dream’. Unlike most other young men who have dreams, however, Simon didn’t just mop it up and forget about it: he set about the realisation of his ambitions with a lantern-jawed vengeance. Starting with the release of the Let It Brie album by power-pop ne’er-do-wells Cheese, Simon has patiently continued to release a winningly diverse range of albums – 35 and counting – in the face of global financial diarrhoea and industry collapse… against the kind of odds that are essentially insurmountable, yet nevertheless surmounted in this instance by sheer force of will. When you get a moment, point your mice at www.pinkhedgehog.com for full details of the label’s critically-feted releases and its international artist base. For now, four of Pink Hedgehog’s bands are staging a celebration of the label in Bridport’s lovely Electric Palace on Saturday, January 22, 2011 as a way of thanking Simon Felton for his far-sighted enthusiasm and unswerving belief. You are all cordially invited to attend, of course, and encouraged to shout about the event from the most echoing rooftops in the meantime. The bands are: Hamfatter – Cambridge’s finest can famously boast sufficiently pendulous gonads to enable them to stroll directly into the BBC’s Dragon’s Den and make off with all of the cash and congratulations. Catch their ‘underground-friendly and slightly off-centre take on jazz/blues/pop’ now, before they embark upon their Tom Waits-themed tour of the USA. Schnauser – Concealing the dark matter of their mordantly humorous lyrics within star clusters of dazzling melody, popsike pugilists Schnauser revel in their status as ‘a bit of a snake in the psychedelic eden’. Their masterful second album, The Sound of Meat, recently earned plaudits in The Sunday Times from comedian Stewart Lee; and he doesn’t like anything. The Steve Wilson Band – Warm-hearted and rootsy flame-keepers of Pink Hedgehog’s communal, convivial spirit: like Music From Big Pink for the 21st century. Their Sideshows and Fairytales album was described by Ear Candy as ‘very relaxed and unhurried blue-eyed soul with loads of pop sensibility’. Cheese – Dorset’s Big Star-besotted power-pop evangelists, cajoled by Simon into exhuming, compiling and releasing their demos as the Let It Brie album. Consequently, this is where the whole Pink Hedgehog shootin’ match began. Still ‘big in New Jersey’, despite having been in comfy hibernation since 2005.
Thanks for that Marco... tickets are on sale now from Bridport Music and also from the Pink Hedgehog store right here, where you can pay for them using your credit or debit card via Paypal and I will pop them into the post to you without delay! One of the stars of our special night will be Hamfatter, who finally release their Peter Jones funded album Cassiopeia on 31st January 2011. The album is essentially a digital only release, but there are a limited number of professionally made CD copies, in full colour cardboard sleeves. We are using them for mainly promotional purposes, but do have a small amount available to sell while stocks last, take a look here.
So that's all folks, for the time being at least. I hope to see some of you at the Electric Palace later in the month, but after that I'll be keeping a lower profile whilst I attempt to ponder the meaning of life and other more important stuff. So long and thanks for all the fish... Simon x. November/December 2010 A big warm hug of a hello from a freezing cold but sunny Weymouth! At a time when activity is rushing towards it’s pre-Christmas peak in the music industry, here at Pink Hedgehog things are just about ticking over at a far more dignified pace! I'm sure you’ll forgive me for kicking off with the most exciting bit of news (at least in my house), that of the release of the brand new Garfields Birthday album on 29th November. It’s called More Sense Than Money and the initial feeback is suggesting that it’s the best thing we’ve done in our long and occasionally frustrating life as a post-Brit Pop indie band with feeling. Long-time supporter Don Campau, a DJ and musician based in California said “Four words: album of the year! (or at least one of them). Incredible” and super-cool Berlin-based DJ and underground troubadour Lord Litter, often referred to as the European John Peel, said “Great! - with this release I became a dedicated Garfields Birthday fan!”; also in the States, music writer Bill Holmes was “very happy to report that their latest, More Sense Than Money, is their best yet!”.
So far so good... step aside Susan Boyle, your role as Queen of the Asda charts is about to be usurped and Garfields Birthday shall be the ones to take your crown! Seriously though, we have a few early reviews already in, which you can read in full here and get your copy of the album by following one of the links below. This time we have used a great company called Breed Media to manufacture the cds - they are a green company who offer a selection of carbon-neutral products, so we don’t have to feel bad about any negative impact on the environment we might have caused by bringing another new CD release into the world! Please click away below: Pink Hedgehog Online Pop Store here HMV here Play.com here Amazon.co.uk here Hey Day here Kool Kat Musik (USA) here For those of you who have been following the ongoing Hamfatter story, you’ll probably be interested to hear that their brand new album is released on 31st January 2011. After a lengthy pause to recover from the shock of appearing on Dragon's Den, Hamfatter are back with a fantastic new album paid for by Peter Jones. Cassiopeia has been a long time in the making, but it took that long for the band to find their path after being plucked from the cult indie wilderness. Frontman Eoin O’Mahony reveals: “After the Dragon's Den appearance we went into shock. We were used to being an indie band on an indie label. We didn’t know how to deal with being mentioned in the same sentence as Simon Cowell and we didn’t like it. Looking back I can’t believe how naive we were; but we are used to dealing with audiences who love music and we thought music would be the focus for the publicity.”
They may have had more money this time round but the band hold true to the indie sound of their first 4 albums: “This is the first time we spent more than a few hours of studio time per track. We experimented a lot more and it shows. There are some totally new sounds for us on this album - electronica synths, 60’s Hammond organ, Mellotron and some really big string arrangements. We pushed the boat out.” Parts of the album were recorded with Frank Zappa/White Stripes producer Joe Chicarelli in Los Angeles. On a day off, the band took a trip around the early stomping grounds of Tom Waits and were inspired to take a new angle for their next tour in Spring 2011. Eoin explains: “We are only booking venues where Tom Waits played or worked before he was famous. That means a lot of dirty dives in California which suits us perfectly. I’ll be playing accordion and singing and we’re going to put in a couple of choice Tom Waits favourites into the set.” So Hamfatter are alive and well and it would appear 2011 will see them back on our stereograms and perhaps even rocking a joint near you... assuming Tom Waits has played or worked there in the past!
Talking of touring and live shows... Bristol-based psych-poppers Schnauser have been getting in the gigs following the release of their much praised new album The Sound of Meat. If you can’t make it to any of their prior happenings, then be sure to catch them at The Lousiana, in Bristol, on 30th December where they will be playing alongside Cue Fanfare and Billy Whizz! Have a read of the reviews of The Sound of Meat right here, right now and you can get your hands on one of the remaining digipak albums here. If you’re into Schnauser and like the sound of their meat, then there’s a good chance you are also a confirmed Ant-fan and I applaud you on your good taste. Anton Barbeau has also recently released a fantastic new album called Psychedelic Mynde of Moses, of which American journalist Michael Toland wrote this for Big Takeover magazine “There’s no reason in the world that fans of the Elephant 6 crew, XTC, the Green Pajamas or Robyn Hitchcock (whose old Egyptians compatriot Andy Metcalfe is a frequent collaborator here) wouldn’t clasp Barbeau to their bosoms, especially not after hearing the marvelous Psychedelic Mynde of Moses.” So what are you waiting for, visit his page at Pledgemusic. Amid the slow and painful death of many small indie labels and distributors, artists are increasingly turning to funding platforms such as Kickstarter and Pledgemusic to allow their new music to see light of day. Indeed Anton’s latest release was funded wholly by his fans and supporters via Pledgemusic, so it does work and I personally find it totally reassuring and just a bit inspiring. Our friends The Black Watch are also funding the release of their new music in a similar way, click here to find out more. But I digress, we were talking about Anton Barbeau and gigs, so here are just a few of the gigs where you will almost certainly be able to see him live and in the the flesh!
27th November, Magic Cafe, Oxford, UK. (1-2 PM lunch show!) 3rd December, The Music House At Jurnet's Bar, Wensum Lodge, Norwich, UK. 4th December, Cabaret Clandestino, East Oxford Community Centre, Oxford, UK. 19th December, Cafe Tarifa, Oxford, UK. (Gappy's Winter Warmer) Finally, if you can pretend there is a dramatic drum roll happening in the background at this point, as I have an important date for your diaries - a date you will want to mark on your calenders in big letters “KEEP FREE” as you really don’t want to find yourself double-booked. On Saturday 22nd January 2011 the lovely Steve Wilson is organising a night in honour of Pink Hedgehog Records at the wonderful Electric Palace theatre in Bridport, Dorset. It promises to be a night of great music, special guests, reunions and general nods of approval towards your favourite Wyke Regis based indie label and the music it has been involved with over the last 16 years! I will of course provide more details as they are confirmed and given to me, but I can tell you that tickets will be on sale soon at just £8 each and you'll be treated to a fantastic night of music, friends and celebration! On that highest of high notes, goodbye! October 2010 Once again we have reason to celebrate here at Pink Hedgehog HQ. The new Schnauser album, The Sound of Meat, has been picking up rave reviews all over the place - most notably in both The Sunday Times and Record Collector, which isn't to be sniffed at! Click here to read them and other well-deserved praise for what has already become a modern-day classic in my house. Talking of modern day classics - occasionally it looked liked it wouldn't happen, but against all odds, the brand new Garfields Birthday album, More Sense Than Money, is finally here!
Now into their 15th year and with new guitarist Leighton McGrath on board, it has taken nearly two years to complete the follow up to 2008's Let Them Eat Cake. The album was recorded in Weymouth's own Alienigloo studio and entirely produced by the band. Amongst the new gems are a tribute to the loyal supporters of a weekly karaoke session; a dreamy account of a memorable weekend spent in Cambridge; and the first ever writing collaboration by Shane and Simon in the album opener, a punchy little number called ‘Cool Your Jets’! It's an eclectic album, packed full of their trademark melodies, vocal harmonies and with pop still very much at its core! The album is already in stock, but the official release date is 29th November 2010. Click here to previews some of the songs and for more info on how to buy it! August/September 2010 Despite the rather bleak nature of my recent updates, mostly relating to the future of physical releases here at Pink Hedgehog and the dire financial situation we have found ourselves in, there is still plenty to smile about. Most notably we have the new Schnauser album, The Sound of Meat, all pressed up and ready to go! The official release date is 20th September - if you are in the Bristol area you can go along to the launch party/in-store performance at record store RISE (near the triangle) on Tuesday September 28th at 5.30pm. Although not on the new album (but possibly destined for #3), check out the new video to ‘Quiches and Flans and Bottles and Bags’, which surely must be a contender for the UK’s Eurovision entry in 2011!
Hopefully there will be two more physical releases following the new album from Schnauser (pictured above), taking us into next year. The first of those will be the brand new Garfields Birthday album, at the moment entitled More Sense Than Money, which we have been recording on and off since November 2008 (during my brothers illness and recovery); it’s almost done and will feature 12 new recordings which we are all very proud of. The final sessions are taking place over the next couple of weeks at Alien Igloo Studio in Weymouth and then we’ll be done! Finally, 2011 will see the release of my own new album that I have recorded with Anton Barbeau and Alan Strawbridge - a treat to myself for all my hard work over the last 16 years! Anyway, back to what’s happening now! Those of you who have been following Hamfatter on their journey, will be interested to hear they are preparing for a Tom Waits-themed tour of the USA. The tour will see them performing alternative and acoustic versions of their catalogue - you can listen in and watch them rehearsing an accordian-led version of ‘Karma’ from the album What Part of Hamfatter Do You Not Understand? by popping along to Eoin's blog spot! Another interesting video to watch, especially for Anton Barbeau fans, can be found right here. It is a short clip showing Anton in Berlin’s Funkhaus Studio, recording tracks for his upcoming new album. Ant looks like he is really enjoying the experience; the tracks are sounding superb and drummer Morris Windsor (Robyn Hitchcock/Soft Boys) is tight!
And finally, I want to tell you a little bit more about the archives project I’ve started. Basically I’ve gone right back to the earliest recordings made in the mid-90s (mostly home-recorded in the early days on an 8-track cassette recorder) and passed them on to my brother who has been remastering them and making them available once again via Last FM and Stone Island Records. The first is a compilation of early Garfields Birthday tracks called Poetry and Flowers and the second one is a live recording from folk-rock band The Ramblin’ Pitchforks. More inspired by Frank Zappa than The Dubliners, the live recordings are great examples of front-man Rob Watts’ multi-instrumental prowess and musical humour. The recordings also serve as a wonderful reminder of the late Lee Cole, an incredibly gifted guitarist who many people will remember fondly from the Dorset music scene of the 1990s.
Both of these two archive releases are available to stream and the Last FM site features free downloads of complete tracks; including the never-before-released ‘Psychopathic Gerbils on Mushrooms’. If you enjoy tunes about intoxicated rodents then you won’t want to miss this frenetic track by The Pitchforks which has remained unheard for the last 15 years! In addition to the live recordings, the last two tracks on the album were recorded with Robbie McIntosh (The Pretenders/Macca/John Mayer etc.) at his home studio for a chaity release back in 1995 and have been confined to the Pink Hedgehog archives for more than a decade! Even though the plan is to stop putting out physical releases in the future, I still have an awful lot of cds here that would love to find their way into people’s homes. If you are at all interested in buying up any of the catalogue (in any quantity large or small) then please do send me an email - I am open to offers and happy to sell them at greatly reduced prices if it means the music will be heard. Enjoy the rest of the summer! July 2010 I thought it was about time I spread a little sunshine in all your lives, or give it my best shot, so here goes! First off, the brand new and completely amazing new Schnauser album The Sound of Meat is here. I have a couple of boxes of the lovely digipak cds right next to me and I was so keen to get my hands on them that I drove up to Bristol - it was worth every mile as they look and sound superb! For those of you who are new to the Schnauser experience, they are now a functioning Bristol-based trio of the Psych/Prog/Pop variety fronted by Alan Strawbridge of The Lucky Bishops and Cheese fame! This is likely to be the penultimate physical release for the label so please embrace it with all the love and enthusiasm you can muster and keep it close to your hearts. You can hear a full length song from the album on our MySpace page or listen to a shorter clip and find out more details on how to buy the album here.
Also, Tea and Sympathy, the first of two lovingly remastered collections of long-since unavailable Garfields Birthday tracks, is now available to buy, review and lavish with attention. Essentially a digital release, but we have just 100 professionally made CD-R copies available for a limited time. Full details and previews are here! And finally, as a way of bypassing the usual music industry channels and the likes of iTunes for a change, we are trying out a true alternative in the shape of Stone Island Records, a completely independent site dedicated to connecting people to cool music. My brother Shane has been using his studio as a kind of therapy during his recovery from three major operations on his back, and he has been remastering all the old Garfields Birthday demos and early recordings from the 1990s, many recorded on an 8 track!
The first batch appear on the limited CD release of Tea and Sympathy (mentioned above) and the second installment comes by way of a digital-only release called Poetry and Flowers. If you click on the link below you will be taken to our page where you will see a music player pop up which allows you to listen to all the songs on the album. If you find that you really like one or two or all of them, you can click on our 'songs' page and you have the option to buy/download tracks as hi-quality mp3s! These songs have been unavailable for many years now and I think the collection makes for quite an interesting trip into Garfields past. If all goes to plan, we will be remastering and making available many other gems from the archives! June 2010 I'm kicking off this month's update with news of a gig happening in July that promises to be a real corker. Don McGlashan from New Zealand's late, great Mutton Birds is playing Dingwalls in London on 22nd July and Anton Barbeau is on the bill as one of the support acts! Tickets are on sale already and the show will almost certainly sell out, so click here to buy your ticket and start looking forward to an amazing night!
A number of people have been asking me what Hamfatter are up to at the moment. Well, for those of you who aren't on their mailing list I can tell you that they are getting ready to film a video for their forthcoming single called 'Money'. The basic concept involves a dodgy nightclub, drunkenness, clubbers turning into giant pigs and the band being beaten up by a bunch of bouncers in over-sized piggy-bank costumes. Anyway, it's all happening at the outrageously fancy Embassy Club in Mayfair, London and they need a whole bunch of extras to play clubbers! So, if you want to be in the next Hamfatter video, dressed in your most inappropriate club gear, send them an email via their website for all the details. The new Dragon's Den-funded album is called Cassiopeia and is due for release in November this year so stay tuned!
Part two of Kim Harten's epic Pink Hedgehog feature is now online at her excellent Aquamarine site and features loads of new reviews from releases going back over the last couple of years. Please do pop along and catch up with her latest musings. And so we turn to new music. I know I keep saying it, but the brand new Schnauser album is defenitly finished, it's defenitely called The Sound of Meat and it's arrival is imminent! The digital release date is 21st June with the physical release coming in the shape of a stunning digipak design soon after. If you want to preview all the tracks then click on this link to Amazon and immerse yourself in the luxurious sound of meat! If you're still hungry after that then you will be glad to know that the newly remastered Tea and Sympathy collection from Garfields Birthday is released on 7th June and can be downloaded from iTunes et al or bought on cd by going right here, right now! April/May 2010 After a change in venue (and date!), the Pink Hedgehog Label Night went ahead at the Old Town Hall in Weymouth this month. Those that were in attendence enjoyed a great solo set by Si Jubb, a semi-acoustic performance by Garfields Birthday and an extended headline set by The Steve Wilson Band. We were also lucky enough to be invited on Wessex FM to talk about the event and to play a song live in the studio. Hopefully this will be the first of many similar musical nights in this wonderful venue!
The brand new Schnauser album, The Sound of Meat, is now finished and will soon be available to buy in gorgeous digipak cd format or to download from your favourite online music provider. We will be adding one of the songs to our MySpace page in a few days time for you to preview and admire! The official release date is 7th June! Our good friend (and long-time supporter) Kim Harten has written part one of a two-part feature on Pink Hedgehog, featuring many new reviews of recent and not-so-recent releases. Visit her Aquamarine site to read the article and to fine out more!
Garfields Birthday should soon have their new studio album finished and may well be embracing the current anti-digital backlash with a brand new single or ep on vinyl, yes vinyl! Meanwhile, the timing seems right to take a trip down memory lane and listen to some of their earlier achievements. Tea and Sympathy is a new collection of 16 recently remastered tracks and serves as a great overview of the bands early home and studio recordings. It proves they have never been short of a good tune! These tracks have been unavailable on cd for some years now. If you would like one of the 100 limited edition cd copies (professionally made with full colour artwork/jewel case/shrink-wrap!) then click here for more details and here some of the songs! And finally, anyone who is reading this in Japan may be interested to know that many of our titles are now available from Powerpop Acadamy. More of our cds are on their way to them now, so their stock will be growing all the time. If you live nearer to the UK (or even if you don't), you may also be interested to know that our special Clearance Sale is continuing through April and you can see a list of titles and prices here! March 2010 Following on from the piece in MOJO magazine last month, Peter Lacey's latest album Behind The Scenes has now been reviewed in the new issue of my favourite music glossy, Shindig! It's a fantastic and well written review, click here to read it!
Fans of Anton Barbeau will probably already be aware of his latest project with fellow American artist Allyson Seconds. Anton has written and produced her debut album called Bag of Kittens and it's superb! During his recent trip home, they both appeared on television station KCRA playing tracks from the album live in the studio, together with long-time Ant guitarist Steve Randall. I was really impressed with the clips and urge you all to go and watch them right now, what a voice Allyson has, click here!
Those of you who have been following Hamfatter’s journey over the last couple of years will be interested to know that their new (Dragon’s Den-funded) album is now finished and ready for imminent release. It’s called Cassiopeia and will be exclusively available for fans to download very soon (details to follow shortly). They have recently signed a publishing deal with The Prince's Trust and are currently getting ready to film a video for the first single called 'Money'; you can keep up with all the news and see the artwork for the new album at the new-look website at www.hamfatter.net. Other music also on the way is the amazing new album from Schnauser called The Sound of Meat which will shortly be getting a luxurious digipak-style release, visit their website at www.schnauser.co.uk and keep an eye out in your inbox for more details quite soon. In the meantime, in my continued effort to feed the Pink Hedgehog kitty, I have reduced the prices at our online shop for 2010 and extended our Staying in Business Sale to tempt you to into parting with some spare cash in exchange for some super cool music. Simply click on the banner at the top of this page! January/February 2010 Happy New Year Everyone! Haven eaten my own weight in Quality Street over the Christmas holidays, I am now ready to resume activities here at Pink Hedgehog and happy to announce that we are once again open for business! I've been doing my very best to ignore the depressing fact that James Blunt had the biggest selling album of the noughties (!) and concentrate on our own new releases. We have two new albums out on 11th January! One of them, Behind The Scenes by Peter Lacey, has already received some attention in the very latest issue of MOJO magazine here in the UK!
"Remember way back, when Macca was a one-man band blueprinting ideas for Wing's take-off? Well, Lacey's a bit like that, fashioning harmony vocals into a mystic dreamscape." (MOJO magazine, February 2010). You can preview tracks from the new album on Peter's MySpace page and order CDs from our own store or Kool Kat Musik in America.
Our second new release of the month is the debut album from The Inexperienced, a group of friends based in North London, led and produced by Alex Meadows. Alex is currently touring with Sir Tom Jones, playing bass and a bit of guitar. In the past he was a member of Arista recording artist Electrasy as bass player and writer and can also be heard on Jamiroquai’s Dynamite album playing bass. Alex has also survived two world tours with Simon Cowell’s creation Il Divo, playing almost no music at all! Listen to one of the great songs here and order copies of the album by going here. Both albums are also available to download from all the usual online music stores! Finally, a big thank you to Phil Jackson of Zeitgeist for his continued support and for including two Pink Hedgehog releases in his end of year round up/best of 2009 list! Both Don't Sleep by Eye and Peter Lacey/Stephen Kalinich's collaborative album South Downs Way featured in the top ten alongside releases by Wilco and Ray Davies. Click here to see the entire top 40 list and to find out more about Phil! Christmas 2009 In an effort to avoid hibernation brought on by the virtual collapse of the music industry and help celebrate our 15th Anniversary we are having a "Staying in Business" sale, giving all of you the opportunity to buy some fantastic music at silly prices. Click here for details of all the special offers and prepare to be amazed... then order some cds!
Being ever the optimist, I'm choosing to view this as a positive thing; hoping that people will turn to the true independents for their musical needs and inspiration, rather than download the latest pap that their iTunes newsletter tells them everyone else is buying or chuck in some piece of crap off the telly from the cd section in Asda along with their mince pies and brussel sprouts! Meanwhile, our fifteenth consecutive year of losing money has come to an end... but I have good news in the shape of some great new music! We already have two albums lined up for the new year, beginning with an album from Electrasy (and Tom Jones') bass player Alex Meadows. The album is called The Inexperienced and is in stock at our store right now. Listen to a clip here!
Prior to Peter Lacey's recent collaboration with Stephen John Kalinich, he was already well under way with a new solo album called Behind The Scenes. Well, he's now put the finishing touches to it and it's release is imminent. This is Peter's seventh release and the nearest he's got to the veritable "concept" album. Listeners will notice a theme running throughout which concerns what might be described as the interplay between reality and illusion. You can listen to a clip here or preview tracks from both new releases (and many others) by visiting our MySpace page. Happy Christmas! |
News | Artists | Releases | Sound and Vision | Reviews | Radio | Archives | Links | Last FM | SoundCloud
Electrasy
The Black
Watch
Lord Litter
Garfields
Birthday
Pink
Hedgehog founder, Simon Felton
Si Jubb & Garfields
Birthday
Garfields
Birthday
Si Jubb
Garfields Birthday
Empire
of Potential by Anton
Barbeau
Surrender,
Dorothy! by Simon
Felton
Three
Minute Tease
Anton
Barbeau
Cheese reunited
Cassiopeia
by Hamfatter
Tickets
available now!
More
Sense Than Money by Garfields
Birthday
The Sound of Meat by Schnauser
Anton
Barbeau
Schnauser
Poetry
and Flowers by Garfields
Birthday
Live
at O'Malleys by The
Ramblin' Pitchforks
Money
video concept
Tea
and Sympathy by Garfields
Birthday
SHINDIG! Magazine -
March/April 2010 Issue
Hamfatter
with Peter Jones
The MOJO Playlist -
'Transport of Delight' by Peter Lacey 
Alex Meadows
The Inexperienced by The
Inexperienced
Behind
The Scenes by Peter
Lacey