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There are no gigs planned at the moment, but work continues on the next Garfields Birthday album. Me and my brother Shane are currently working on around half a dozen new songs, all of which will more than likely appear on the next band release, tentatively called You are Here. The new tracks have a distinctly psych-flavour to them at the moment, but who knows how they will turn out? Some of the new songs include 'Magic Bike', 'Sunday Best' and 'Oxford'. In the absence of any gigs in the foreseeable future, there are a few full-length videos of the acoustic 'Song and Whispers' shows below, if you're brave enough! Be warned, they are not edited and include duff notes galore, nervous banter and an awful lot of gibberish! Garfields Birthday at Hafen Casino, Bremen (15/11/11) here Garfields Birthday at Tagungshaus Bredbeck Culture Center, Osterholz (18/11/11) here Garfields Birthday at Lox Bar, Bremen (22/11/11) here Garfields Birthday at Townside Hostel, Bremen (25/11/11) here
Germany tour videos ~ Added March 2012 The acoustic tour of Germany was hugely rewarding, both musically speaking, and in terms of the people we met during our travels - finding nothing but friendly, welcoming faces wherever we went. Around half the songs we played were new to the set, mixing more recent and "classic" Garfields Birthday tracks with material from my latest solo album. Si Jubb brought energy and panache to the tour, not only playing his own frenetic solo sets, but also joining us on stage (see photo below) to fill out our sound with retro beats, courtesy of his iPod. You can see loads of photos from the tour, by clicking here, and below you will find links to videos of a few performances! Garfields Birthday perform 'The Garden Wall' here Garfields Birthday perform 'Slowing Down' here Garfields Birthday & Si Jubb perform 'Punch and Judy Man' here
Acoustic tour of Germany ~ Added November 2011 Me and Shane have started working on tracks that are likely to appear on a new Garfields Birthday album in 2012; but November will see the focus firmly on gigging, with me and Leighton returning to Germany for our second Songs & Whispers tour. We have been busy rehearsing new material; the aim is to have at least half a dozen new songs in the set, promoting GBs recent More Sense Than Money album as well as my new Surrender, Dorothy! solo release. See below for a full list of the dates! Garfields Birthday & Si Jubb 'Songs and Whispers' German Tour 2011 14th
November - Big Buttinsky, Osnabruck (9 pm)
New album reviews ~ Added October 2011 The Big Takeover (USA) "Since he began working outside the confines of his band Garfields Birthday, Pink Hedgehog owner Felton has really been hitting his stride as a singer/songwriter, with each LP being better than the last. Surrender is no exception. Backed by the Lucky Bishops’ Alan Strawbridge and fellow psych-pop iconoclast Anton Barbeau, Felton channels four decades of British acid pop into a half hour of irresistible bittersweetness. From the folky 'Compatible' to the bright 'Novelty' and the swirling 'Lying Down', Felton effortlessly keeps the should-be hits coming." (Michael Toland) Terrascope (UK) "Simon Felton will be well known to readers of these reviews, and here comes his second solo album Surrender, Dorothy! which features none other than psycher-than-thou US dude Anton Barbeau, whose recent Psychedelic Mynde Of Moses is a great little album. Opener 'Peepshow' nails Felton's indie-psych colours to the mast, with tricksy backwards effects, indie guitars and Felton's very own lugubrious vocals, while uptempo bopper 'Marbles' mixes tunefulness with wistful lyrics; only two and a half minutes, so I expect that'll be the single. 'Surprise' is soft and subtle, 'Lying Down' is a kind of waltztime lament, while 'Finally' changes the audio palette for acoustic guitar, tinkling bells and mournful vocals; I detect the hand of Mr Barbeau here on production duties. 'Novelty' is nostalgic and tuneful - another single! - and 'Slowing Down' reminded me of some of the slower Pugwash songs; great cut, this. A 'sixties flute 'tron opens 'Compatible' to retro-ears, while 'Psychedelia Smith' is another track with Barbeau's fingers all over it. The album closes with a surprisingly dark song, 'Day Dreams & Broken Bones.' This is certainly the most engaging release so far from the house of the Pink Hedgehog, and is recommended." All the reviews can be read here! Another new video up at YouTube ~ Added August 2011 I have just uploaded another promo video for one of my new songs! New video up at YouTube ~ Added August 2011 I have just uploaded a new promo video for a song on my new album! New solo album out now ~ Added August 2011 Hey everybody, Apologies for the radio silence over the last few weeks; especially if you’re still waiting for me to reply to an email or phone call – I’ve had my friend from Taiwan staying with me and we’ve been hithering and thithering all over the place from Oxford to Glastonbury and London to Wareham! Anyway, whilst things are getting back to normal, please indulge me further for just a couple of minutes so that I can let you all know 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 (for me) would be direct from the Pink Hedgehog 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 on the other hand are charging the unusual price of £9.56, but have been good to Pink Hedgehog 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: Pink
Hedgehog's Online Pop Store 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! Brand new solo album out this Summer ~ Added June 2011
Quintessentially English, this second solo outing from the Garfields Birthday frontman is sunshine in a CD. It's all the fun of the fair with a carnival atmosphere. Close your eyes and you are basking in the summery sun; you can feel the water lapping around your ankles as each jaunty ditty melds with your consciousness. Don’t be surprised to find yourself humming the catchy hooks long after the final scintillating moment. From the opening ‘Peepshow’, the jolly ‘Marbles’ takes you on a trip down memory lane, and soon you are swept along by the dreaminess oozing from each song. ‘Surprise’ epitomises the mood and soon you are ‘Lying Down’, floating along with the swirling Wurlitzer. ‘Finally’ sets the tranquil mood before the upbeat ‘Novelty’ breaks open the champagne. Then we are ‘Slowing Down’ again. ‘Compatible’ features the haunting mellotron and then we are treated to Percival Quaint’s violin weaving in between the wah-wah organ and eerie vocals that is ‘Psychedelia Smith’ before being propelled into the darkness of ‘Day Dreams & Broken Bones’. The multi-talented Pink Hedgehog stalwart Alan ‘Schnauser’ Strawbridge, ably assisted by Californian cult-superstar Anton Barbeau, a veteran of four Pink Hedgehog releases of his own, have hand crafted a gem of a vehicle for Felton’s songs and pure vocal style. This successful team had masterminded his maiden solo release Failing in Biology and their masterful touch two years on makes Surrender, Dorothy! an absolute joy to behold. It is a giant leap forward. Indeed if one did not know better, you could easily be convinced that this was a long lost gem from the Elektra label. With Surrender, Dorothy!, Pink Hedgehog Records are living up to their name of releasing spine-tingling music. Charting the progress of recent releases from the likes of Hamfatter, Anton Barbeau, Schnauser, Garfields Birthday and now Simon Felton, it is safe to say that PH are fast becoming the litmus test for 21st Century pop. If your ears enjoy the sounds of The Flaming Lips, XTC or The Divine Comedy, they will love this outing. Aah… Pour me another Pimms! Surrender, Dorothy! (LP) by Simon Felton. Track listing: Peepshow To order your copy of the new album please visit the online store here! New Garfields Birthday album reviews ~ Added March 2011
"Quickly following up Tea and Sympathy, its excellent compendium of early tracks, Garfields Birthday issues More Sense Than Money, a set of brand new tunes. Now firmly under the control of Felton brothers Simon (bass, vox) and Shane (guitar, engineering), the British quartet luxuriates in winsome melodies, 60s atmosphere and sentiments so sweet as to be almost syrupy, if not for the sincerity with which they’re delivered. “Wandering our way through the market with love on our mind,” Simon sings in 'Cambridge' over a lovely melody for a track that brings to mind the early Bee Gees more than bad romantic poetry. (The Hollies and The Posies seem to be the band’s other major touchstones). Besides, the cuts’ outer sugar often masks a sour undertone – cf. 'Cool Your Jets', 'King Rat' (“What am I supposed to do when I’m killing you?”) and the gently nasty 'Short Straw' (“If I can’t have you,” breathes Simon prettily, “I’ll have someone else”). But even if you pay little attention to the words, you can still be swept away by Garfields’ penchant for beguiling melodies and sweet sibling harmonies on the crunchy 'Carry On Karaoke', the psychedelic 'Normality', the garage-rocking 'Better Things' and the soaring 'Future Song'. With only one misstep – did 'King Rat' really need Autotuned vocals? – More Sense Than Money is once again the kind of excellent record that leaves one wondering why Garfields Birthday aren’t legends in the power pop underground. Written by Michael Toland (The Big Takeover)
Fifteen years on, the band release their second full-lengther, and to quote The Ramones - "Second verse/same as the first"! Let Them Eat Cake was my favourite pop album of 2008, and More Sense Than Money is the perfect sequel, delivering the same gorgeous harmonies, catchy as flypaper melodies, melancholic navel-gazers ('Cambridge'), hummable choruses, and jingly-jangly head nodders ('The Garden Wall') as before. An amazingly warm and fuzzy achievement all around, lads. Encore! Written by Jeff Penczak (Shindig!) New Garfields Birthday album released ~ Added November 2010 Just when your thoughts are probably turning towards Christmas and the giving and receiving of gifts, I can share with you the joyous news of the brand new Garfields Birthday album which is released 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 melodious indie band. 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 legend Lord Litter, considered by many to be the European John Peel, said “Great! - with this release I became a dedicated GB 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!”. The line-up for the new album is: Shane
Felton - Guitars, vocals and keyboards More Sense Than Money (LP) by Garfields Birthday. Track listing: Cool Your Jets MP3 Step aside Susan Boyle, your role as Queen of the Asda Charts is about to be usurped and I shall be the one 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 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 release into the world! Download
More Sense Than Money from iTunes or buy on CD from: New album to be released 29th November ~ Added October 2010 Occasionally it looked liked it wasn't going to happen, but against all odds, the brand new Garfields Birthday album, More Sense Than Money, is finally here! Now into our 15th year and with new guitarist Leighton McGrath on board, it has taken nearly two years to complete the follow up to 2008s Let Them Eat Cake. It 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 between Shane and Simon in album opener ‘Cool Your Jets’. It's an eclectic album, packed full of our trademark melodies, vocal harmonies and with pop still very much at its core! For all our friends, supporters and general well-wishers, we are giving you the chance to order the new album before the release date and at a special price. If you click here it will take you to a ‘Special Offers’ page where you will be able to preview a few songs off the new album and buy a copy for just £5.99! The official release date is 29th November 2010. Brand new Garfields Birthday album finished ~ Added August 2010 We have two reasons to celebrate this month. First off, the new GB album is finished! We had the last of the recording sessions this week and it's done. We are starting to mix now and have given ourselves a deadline of the end of August to have all the tracks ready for the mastering and manufacturing stage. The album will feature a dozen new recordings and is probably our most mature and eclectic collection of tunes to date. Visit the gallery to see pictures of the final recording sessions at Alien Igloo with Shane and Leighton. The album will be called More Sense Than Money. Perhaps even more noteworthy, at least for me anyway, is the return of Shane to the live stage! Our friends Freak Circus have just celebrated their 10th anniversary with a party to end all parties! Given that we share a drummer, Ady, we were asked to get up and play a few Garfields Birthday songs. It was great to be playing next to my brother again after nearly three years... hopefully this is just the beginning! In terms of my solo projects - my new album is also finished, mixed and mastered, and should be coming out early in the new year! More tracks from the archives see light of day ~ Added July 2010 Garfields Birthday have been very busy of late, remastering all their old demos and early recordings from the 1990s. The first batch appeared on the limited CD-R release Tea and Sympathy, and is now quickly followed by a second compilation - the digital only Poetry and Flowers. These songs have been unavailable for many years now and the companion collection makes for quite an interesting trip into the band's past, providing an insight into the recording career of one of indie-pop’s enduring champions. Available to stream and download from Last FM. Garfields Birthday remastered collection released today ~ Added June 2010 Work on the brand new GB studio album continues at Alien Igloo! The plan is now to concentrate on two tracks which will be released as a single ahead of the new album which will follow soon after. In the meantime, our new Tea and Sympathy collection is released on 7th June 2010 and contains 16 recently remastered tracks and serves as a great overview of the bands early home and studio recordings. These tracks have been unavailable on cd for some years now. If you would like one of the 100 limited edition copies then click here for more details and to preview the songs! Also available to download from: ... and many others! FiB album a hit with hip American DJ ~ Added February 2010 "I'm crazy about Failing in Biology - you and Simon hath produced a collaborative classic! Wait and See, Mister Magic Eyes, Neptune's Fountain!!!!! Love, Mitch" Mitch LeMay is a super-cool DJ at KFJC, the "you" refers to Anton Barbeau! New Garfields Birthday releases on their way ~ Added January 2010 We are
at the start of a brand new year and what better way to
begin 2010 than with news of a brand new
album from Garfields Birthday. We have
now finished putting In the meantime, the Songs & Whispers label in Germany are getting ready to release the Tea and Sympathy compilation which brings together the high points from our early recording career! The collection will include studio tracks and early demos from 1995 onwards; basically all the best stuff up until James left the band and before we reformed as a trio in Bristol to record the Mr Newton EP in 2005. Loads of radio airplay in America ~ Added December 2009 My Failing in Biology album has been picking up a fair amount of airplay on Capital Public Radio in the USA. Click here to visit their site and see the playlists. Videos and photos from Germany now online ~ Added October 2009 Me and Leighton had a wonderful time in Germany; we ended up playing a total of thirteen shows over just nine days - and they couldn't have gone better! Everyone we met was extremely welcoming and friendly and we hope to go back next Summer. You can see a few video clips taken at one of our performances by clicking here and some of the best photos from the tour in our picture gallery starting here. Germany tour announced ~ Added September 2009 I will be heading over to Germany this month with guitarist Leighton McGrath to play some acoustic Garfields Birthday shows. We'll be playing a whole bunch of songs that we’ve never attempted live before, so if we’re coming along to a town that’s anywhere near you, please do say hallo and maybe even buy us a Becks! We've been appearing at a few open mic sessions recently, getting in some much needed practise! Garfields Birthday 'Songs and Whispers' German Tour 2009 19 Sep 2009 -
Kulturgut Ehrenburg, Region Diepholz. New video ~ Added August 2009 I’ve made a little video for 'Neptune's Fountain' off my new album. It’s not exactly award winning stuff - I’ve basically put together lots of video clips that were recorded recently in Taiwan and now I’m trying to pass it off as a promo video!
Shindig! review of FiB ~ Added July 2009 Reviewed in the July/August 2009 issue of the magazine by Marco Rossi: The Pink Hedgehog label, a respected brand in power pop circles, received a welcome shot of recognition when one of its alumni, Hamfatter, memorably appeared on the BBC's Dragon's Den programme. Failing In Biology sees the label's head honcho, the ever-enthusiastic Simon Felton, receiving a welcome chance to shine in his own right. Long-term fans of Simon's band Garfields Birthday will gleefully recognise his bulletproof pop sensibility and signature self-deprecating wit in this latest set of songs, but may be bowled over anew by the heft and muscularity of 'Mister Magic Eyes' and 'Me', which call to mind The Posies and Husker Du respectively. Elsewhere, a fresh palette of production ideas including tastily deployed melodica, vibraphone and percussion lends a fitting depth and space to more introspective compositions such as 'Paisley Man', 'Stupid Song' and 'Goodbye'. Gold star collaboraters Anton Barbeau and Alan Strawbridge bring brio and understated panache to the party, and the whole enterprise exudes sure-footed class. First review of FiB ~ Added April 2009 The album has just been reviewed at the Unpeeled site and it's not bad: SOUNDS LIKE? Ah, we know Anton Barbeau and he's a third of the band, so this Simon Felton bloke must be alright, eh? Yeah, not too shabby and as you might expect there's a lot of slow-burn-core-guitar shoegazing the shit out of the joint, but there's also a whole whacka macca in tracks like 'In The Attic'. So we have a kind of barefoot, psychedelic, popped up run around the effects pedals, all framed by melodic, west coast rock stuff. Pleasant. IS IT ANY GOOD? Very pleasant. Reviewed by Shane at unpeeled.net First airplay for FiB ~ Added April 2009 One of the tracks from my new album, 'The Latest Thing' was played by DJ Stuart Morrison during his UK show on Insomnia Radio, visit them at insomniaradio.net New Album Release ~ Added March 2009 I will be releasing my first 'proper' solo album Failing in Biology on 18th May 2009. The album will be available in both physical (CD) and digital formats from all the usual retailers and music providers. Featuring American cult-star Anton Barbeau and West Country psych-pop legend Alan Strawbridge, the result is a treat for all indie-pop fans who like their music packed with melody, harmony and punch! Visit the music page for more details on this and other available releases.
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Leighton
and Simon
Si and
Simon
Surrender,
Dorothy! (Pink Hedgehog, SMILE43)
More
Sense Than Money (Pink Hedgehog,
SMILE42)
Shindig! (Jan-Feb 2011)