When I was putting together the list for [intlink id="7187" type="post"]Foxes and Convicts[/intlink] I stumbled across this fella on Leeds Music Forum called Daniel Pearson. He’s been recording at the fast-becoming-legendary Soundmill studios in Leeds with one of the cleverest producers working in Leeds right now, Ed Heaton. If you haven’t heard of Ed before, you’ve probably heard of some of his work recently, producing Hannah Trigwell, Secret Sirens, and a few more including The Finnlys… But I digress.
Daniel is right up my street – So much so I was rather stunned I hadn’t heard of him before. Anyway, if you like your sweeping soundscapes to be anthemic and heartfelt, get involved.
Over Christmas our beloved Hope House studios flooded, so we had to shift to the room next door. The silver lining with this was a great new studio for us to practice in, and record live sessions.
Photos by Louise Distrass
I’ve been running a Podcast with Jon from the Dimes, called Foxes and Convicts, for a while now. We’ve been bringing various different acts in to Hope House to record some sessions and have a bit of a chat, and we’ve been putting them out on podcasts. If I’m honest I have no idea how many people have actually been listening to them cos I screwed up a setting on the tracking software, but that’s by the by. Lots of people tell me they listen and like it, and that’s good enough for me.
To celebrate re-opening our studio, we got some of the finest acts we have worked with on the Foxes and Convicts night to all pop down on Saturday afternoon and record some songs for a brand new version of the podcast which will be premiered exclusively on Leeds Indie Radio. It’s a great privilige to turn our daft larking around into a proper show for LIR, who are celebrating a year doing amazing things for local music. Having heard the early mixes this will be a great part of their lineup.
So – coming soon to LIR, a brand new series of Foxes and Convicts, featuring:
March of Dimes - Photo by Louise Distrass
Daniel Pearson
Charlie Barnes
Louise Distrass
March of Dimes
Tag Team Preacher
Secret Sirens
…and many more! I’ll post up when they’re finished and scheduled in!
Depending on how the various life-changing events pan out I’ll be looking to record the next series in the late Autumn… Keep in touch if you’d like to be part of it and get your live set on Leeds Indie Radio!
In all the kerfuffle of the last week (birthdays, gigs, life altering announcements etc) I forgot to mention that I’ve recently launched a new website for my band, March of Dimes.
It’s got videos, gig listings, and our album and EP in full to listen to (and buy, if you haven’t already!)
If you like it, it would be great if you could pass on the address to your chums. Just a wee facebook post, or tweet, or anything to share what we do.
Also, if you know of any promoters or bands that might want to work with us, put them in touch with me
For those who are wondering, I built it in WordPress (my favourite CMS!) with a metric boatload of plugins. Every single part of the site – from the base system, to the music store, to the email system) is free to set up. In fact, apart from a bit of commission we pay to Bandcamp for the sales, it’s free to run as well! Brilliant! Gotta love ya some open source. If anyone wants to know what plugins I used for any part of it, just ask and I’ll let you know.
It’s a busy Monday for sure – Today I’m off to put down the bass for our new single – it’s called Sleeping Giant and should be out in the spring
Some of the Manley equipment
It’s part of a really interesting experiement – we’re recording digitally, then being mixed and mastered in pure analogue by the hugely talented Stephen Anders – should give us a real rootsy feeling, that echos some of the great 70′s country greats… For those musically inclined reading, there’ll be lots of Manley equipment on the go!
Every year my chum @ColByrne and I
award our favourite albums of the year, and although we’re a bit
late this time around, it’s been another corking year of music.
Runners Up in no particular order:
Winter of Mixed Drinks – Frightened Rabbit
A real grower – what seems like quite a lightweight album on first listen has great
depth if you persevere. More and more people are latching on to this band now, and rightly so. Being on TV shows like Chuck can’t hurt either.
The Devil and I – Lone Wolf
Leeds musician Paul Marshall shows why Bella Union were smart to snap him up. A rich, intense and sinister album.
Hope & Social – April
If Lone Wolf leaves you feeling like you’re in your “dark place” the hope and social pick you up, dust you down and get you marching onwards. Uplifting both in style and spirit, their whole fan-funded ethos and incredible live events like the snowball (and, below, come dine with us) make Hope and Social more than just a band you listen to, they’re something to be a part of.
And the Dissemination Award 2010 goes
to…
High Violet – The National
A few months back, @Jo said to me “Listen to this three times, it will be your favourite album of the year” and she was right. The best albums need three listens to
get into, and this is right up there. Dark, moody, powerful, funny… this has everything I’d want from an album. Each time I listen to this album make me feel even more strongly fond of the live set I saw from them at Latitude. An incredible band, and
totally deserving of their new found exposure and plaudits.
Downstairs at Milo this month, it’s a big special Christmas do…
Sadly, this is going to be the LAST Foxes and Convicts for a good long while. We wanted to thank everyone who’s come down for Foxes for the past year and a half.
It’s been amazing.
So. To say thank you and goodbye, we’ve got a good ol party set on the go.
Those lovely people at Yorkshire Telly are holding a vote for the favourite videos on the site right now… They’ve got so much on the go, but it would be splendid if you could pop a vote our way, for this video we did in Ripon:
It’s the big Foxes and Convicts Christmas Bash!