Well, as it turned out I didn't manage to blog through a full 'twelve days of Christmas'; 9-5 work commitments and family Xmas parties slowed up the progress and hence no blogging was done on Thursday or yesterday. Next year I'll plan better in advance! There'll be one more 'general' blog post before the end of 2011 which will include an update on Festivalized among other things but before that, here's a sample of what friends of the blog have in store for us all in 2012. Happy Christmas, everyone!
Greg McKella (Paradise 9)
Well, this past year has been great, we got out to the festivals and cracked a fair few gigs in as well; It was terrific to get to Glasto to play, and other notable festivals were Cosmic Puffin, KozFest (Kozmik Ken's Psychedelic Dream Festival), and Sonic Rock Solstice (where we had an FAB impromptu guest performer, Ron Tree, come join us mid-set!). At Alchemy festival, on the SoundAwesome stage, we were helped out on drums by Here & Now's Nik Nimbus and were later joined by Nik Turner and Miss Angel Flame; at the beginning of Dec they again joined us, that time at the fantastic tribute memorial gig to Judge Trev in Brighton, which also featured Inner City Unit.
So in 2012, we aim to get out and clock a few new festivals, while returning to some others. We're really pleased to be playing the Cambridge Rock 2012 Festival (Aug 2-5th), and just in, we will be headlining on The Judge Trev Stage at next year's (July 27-30th) KozFest in Devon. Some great bands are also featured on this for 2012, including Here & Now, Krankschaft, Litmus, Omnia Opera, and Aurora (whom I occasionally guest with). In January, we'll be back in Liscombe Park Studios putting down the final parts to the album. We aim to mix, master and release this later in the year, while on Sat Feb 11th we'll be returning to our Paradise 9 birthplace, The Gunnersbury in West London, for a belated Xmas/Solstice party gig.
Don Falcone (Spirits Burning)
First up is Astralfish!
Bridget Wishart and Don Falcone launch Astralfish in March. Astralfish is an instrumental project that mixes space, ambient, jazz, rock, and symphonic. The debut CD, mastered by Robert Rich, is titled "Far Corners" and will be released by Noh Poetry Records. The opening track features Gong's Daevid Allen on guitars. Others featured on the CD: Doug Erickson (Grindlestone), Frank Hensel, Pierce McDowell (Gong Matrices), Steve Palmer (Mooch), Jasper Pattison (Citizen Fish), Martin Plumley (Chumley Warner Bros.), Purjah (Quiet Celebration), Cyndee Lee Rule, Karl E. H. Seigfried, Dave Speight (YAK, Peter Banks), Shannon Taylor, and Richard Wileman (Karda Estra).
Then, Spirits Burning is working on three CDs for 2012 and beyond.
(1) Spirits Burning & Clearlight: Healthy Music In Large Doses. Mostly instrumental adventures built on space, prog, jazz, and 60s-style grooves. Clearlight's Cyrille Verdeaux is on most of the tracks. There are over thirty crew members for this one, including Daevid Allen (Gong), Pete Pavli (High Tide), Hawkwind family members Bridget Wishart, Adrian Shaw, Paul Hayles, and Andy Anderson, with Michael Clare (University of Errors), Doug Erickson (Grindlestone), Don Falcone, Stella Ferguson (Flutatious), Fabio Golfetti (Invisible Opera Company of Tibet), Frank Hensel, Jerry Jeter, Chris Kovacs, Kenneth Magnusson (The Moor), G.C. Neri, Robert Rich, Cyndee Lee Rule, Karl E. H. Seigfried, David Speight (YAK), Jay Tausig, David Willey (Thinking Plague), Steve York (Manfred Mann's Chapter Three, Vinegar Joe), and members of Cartoon and Universal Totem Orchestra.
(2) Spirits Burning & Bridget Wishart: Make Believe It Real. This is the third Spirits Burning collaboration with Bridget, following the Earth Born and Bloodlines CDs. Lyrically, the theme of the CD is fiction, fantasy, possibilities. Musically, the CD is built on a heavier sound. Onboard are Daevid Allen (Gong) and Hawkwind family members Harvey Bainbridge, Simon House, Dan Thompson, and Paul Hayles. A new mix of 'Make Believe It Real', from the Friends & Relations 30th Anniversary CD as well as 'Always', (the SoundAwesome hit) from the Omenopus Portents CD with be included.
(3) Spirits Burning: Starhawk. This is a musical interpretation of Mack Maloney's first 'Starhawk' book. The songs follow the timeline of Hawk Hunter's introduction to the far future and a world of cloud puffing, slo-wine, and a very different earth. Most of the song templates and lyrics have been written, with recording sessions now underway. Parts have been completed by former Counting Crows bassist Matt Malley, Pete Pavli (High Tide), Larry Thrasher (Thee Majesty), guitarist G. C. Neri, Don Falcone, and Karen Anderson.
Dave Weller (4 Zero Records)
Following on from the success of the first limited-edition live Mushroom album expect a follow up from a couple of 2011 shows with Alison Faith Levy at the Make Out Room in San Francisco; an amazing funk trance blend of sitar, sax, vocals, flute and percussion. There will also be an album from Fred Laird of Earthling Society under the name of 'Moon Of Ostara', a pagan-inspired Krautrock homage. Both these will be 'proper' CDs in special artisan packaging and strictly limited. There are also a couple of Gong-related projects in the works including a Shapeshifter Gong 2CD culled from a recently discovered hoard of DAT recordings from the tours of France in 1992 and 1994, and it's also looking like there will be a Here & Now release hitting the streets too – fingers crossed!
Alan Davey (Gunslinger, Hawklords)
Hoo hoo hoo and a bottle of Rum! Hope ya all have a good Xmas and New Year! Drink and be merry or drunk and unsteady in my case!
I've been busy in the studio again and have just finished mixing a new solo album I've called Cyber Tooth. Eleven tracks of computer virus-related songs and instrumentals, such as 'Boot Killer', 'Doom Juice' and 'Cyber Tooth'. Release date will be around 21st February 2012 and available from my website.
Cheers, and see ya all with Gunslinger and Hawklords next year, AD ;-)
Jerry Richards (Hawklords, Earth Lab)
Following the success of The Hawklords' European & UK Tour 2011 the band will be back out on the road in 2012. More European dates are being scheduled for September and a more comprehensive set of UK tour dates are being put together for October and November 2012.
This will be in support of a brand new studio album which the band is writing and recording right now... A release date has yet to be established but all news regarding The Hawklords live and recording activities can be found our
Reverbnation page and on our
Facebook presence.
Keith at Fruits de Mer Records
We're still in recovery at Fruits de Mer after a rush of blood led to us releasing a double LP, 7" single and double 7" single all at the same time in early December - we've sold out of all three, but that's involved one helluva a lot of trips to the local post office during the run-up to Christmas!
We're currently working on a number of releases for the first half of 2012 - the one that's most likely to your readers is a double album of kosmische/krautrock covers with the working title of Head Music - early days, but it's likely to include covers of classic tracks from Amon Duul (I AND II!), Neu!, Harmonia, Can..... 2012 is the 40th anniversary of the launch of Brain record label, which is no more than a coincidence but a nice one all the same.
Fred Laird (Earthling Society)
Earthling Society have recorded two cover songs of classic psychedelia by Amon Duul 1 and The Pretty things for 2 Fruits de Mer album releases. One of the releases is very special indeed!
In February the band will enter a professional studio for the first time and lay down half an album's worth of tracks for what will be our meisterwerk of melodic psychedelic rock. The remainder of the album will be finished in April. The following month, E-S will be playing the 'Nuts In May' festival alongside Hazel O'Connor and Dave Swarbrick. In September, under the umbrella of the Transit Music group, the band will travel to the east coast of America to promote the new album.
Fred Laird, front man for the group will also be releasing his solo project Moon Of Ostara on the 4 zero label. The album titled,
The Star-child, is a Krautrock instrumental album dedicated to William Blake and is musically inspired by Ash Ra tempel, Klaus Schulze and Popol Vuh. The track 'Star-Child Pt2' can be heard
here.
Pete Bingham (Sendelica)
The Sendelica Ark has already been built ready for the Mayan Armagedon Floods of 2012. We have seen the movie so we know what to expect... LOL ...
We will be touring Eastern Europe early in 2012..........
Feb 2 Lepakkomies Baari Helsinki, FINLAND
Feb 7 Namaklub Riga, LATVIA
Feb 8 Balerija Jelgava, LATVIA
Feb 10 Roxy Klaipeda, LITHUANIA
Feb 13 PAKAC Preili, LATVIA
Feb 14 Tir Pskov, RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Feb 16 ESG-21 St.Petersburg, RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Feb 17 Vermel Club Moscow, RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Feb 19 Bamboo Tula, RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Feb 21 The Squat Cafe Moscow, RUSSIAN FEDERATION
We also have a limited edition live album 'Strangers In A Strange Land' out this month available exclusively from our
Soundawesome page, while next spring will see the release of our next studio album.
Renato (Serpentina Satelite)
NOTHING TO SAY has been recently released on vinyl by Trip in Time records. This time around, Johnny 'O' from Rocket Recordings took care of the vinyl's artwork. The LP is now available in a limited edition of 500 copies, a 100 of them in lysergic red. You can find NOTHING TO SAY in the following websites:
Bridget Wishart
Ian Abrahams; Hopefully we'll see the publication of our FAB book Festivalised! (Yes indeed – I'll post an update generally on stuff including Festivalized before the New Year)
With...
Astralfish; March 2012 will see the debut release of the fascinating instrumental CD 'Far Corners'...
With...
Spirits Burning; Expecting completion of our third collaboration, Make Believe It Real ... rock fantasies abound :-)
With...
Chumley Warner Bros; New songs for the festival season are unfolding as I write...'On The Street' is a blinder even if I do say so myself. :-) You can catch us at the Sonic Rock Solstice and KozFest! We'll also be recording a track for Lee Pott's Allies & Clansmen II, due for release later in the year.
With...
Omenopus; Scars Are For Lovers our second CD is still being recorded and will most likely see release as we move further into 2012.
NOTHING TO SAY has been recently released on vinyl by Trip in Time records. This time around, Johnny 'O' from Rocket Recordings took care of the vinyl's artwork. The LP is now available in a limited edition of 500 copies, a 100 of them in lysergic red. You can find NOTHING TO SAY in the following websites:
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