27 October 2010

'Alone With Everybody' articles added

Three news clips/articles have been added to The Verve Live's Alone With Everybody archive. In the archive, you'll also find updates from Ashcroft's then official website and also updates from the old VIN (Verve-Interactive-Network). Check them out here, here, and here or check the "Archives" section on the side bar.

21 October 2010

"Are You Ready?" for Volkswagen?

After four years of blood, sweat and tears, top Volkswagen designers and product engineers assembled from around the world are ready to soak in the glory of their creation -- or so they think. Set to the music of Richard Ashcroft's "Are You Ready?," check out this commercial for the new 2011 Volkswagen Jetta.

"Are You Ready?" US release


"Are You Ready?" was released as a single on October 15 in the iTunes Music store. The song was also featured during the opening of Major League Baseball's National League playoff game between the San Francisco Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies on October 16.

06 October 2010

Simon Tong's Erland and the Carnival announce US dates


With Paul Weller singing their praises and a summer of festival performances under their belt, ex-Verve guitarist Simon Tong's new band Erland And The Carnival kicked off their latest tour in fine spirits in Leeds almost two weeks ago. Looks like they now have their eyes set on some US dates in New York City. If you're in the area, check them out.

  • Nov-02, New York, NY, Knitting Factory supporting Villagers
  • Nov-03, New York, NY, Mercury Lounge supporting Villagers
  • Nov-05, New York, NY, The Rock Shop
  • Nov-06, New York, NY, Apollo supporting Paul Weller
  • Nov-07, New York, NY, Nokia Theatre supporting Paul Weller

More information here. For more about the band, click here.

Nick McCabe to appear on Twilight Singers album

With the start of his first-ever solo tour looming on Oct. 8, Greg Dulli has finished work on the fifth Twilight Singers album, the long-awaited follow-up to 2006's "Powder Burns," which is due out in early 2011.

Dulli says that Twilight watchers should be braced for some new sonic adventures this time out. "If you've ever liked me before, you're going to love half of this, and the other half of this you're gonna go, 'What the f**k?!' " Dulli tells Billboard.com. "But you may love that, too. That's the part I love the most, the 'What the f**k?!' part."

Dulli describes the album, which he recorded primarily in California -- Joshua Tree, Arcadia and Hollywood -- with some work in New Orleans, where he also resides, as "a trippy record. It's 43 minutes long and it's pieced together very painstakingly, and there's plenty of crossfades and headphone magic for your trouble. I allowed some influences in that I haven't exactly let in before." Dulli says he wrote "at least two hours or so" of music for the collection, though three of the 11 tracks "came at the last minute...I was still doing an edit in the mastering suite. It went right down to the last tick of the clock."

Dulli produced the album with a variety of his regular studio collaborators, while more than two dozen musicians play on the set -- including his Gutter Twins partner Mark Lanegan, Ani DiFranco, Joseph Arthur, Petra Haden and the Verve's guitarist Nick McCabe. He plans to take the Twilight Singers on tour in February or March, but he's also worked up four of the album's songs to play on his An Evening with Greg Dulli tour, which kicks off in New Orleans and includes shows in the U.S. and Europe through mid-November.

Dulli says he and his accompanists -- Twilight Singers guitarist Dave Rosser and Polyphonic Spree multi-instrumentalist Rick Nelson -- plan to work up 30-35 songs for the outing so they can "flip the set every night, which will be cool." He promises there will be "at least one song from every record I've made" and adds that many of them will be "songs I never played before, just for whatever reasons." He's keeping the specific choices secret for now, though; "No one needs to know 'til I play them in New Orleans that night -- and then they'll be on YouTube an hour later."

Dulli plans to film his shows on Oct. 20 in Philadelphia and Nov. 17 in San Francisco but isn't sure what he'll do with the footage yet. "I'm a fairly private dude," he explains, "so I love watching other people's stuff, but my own makes my skin crawl." Dulli's next project will likely be an instrumental album, and he'll also slated to guest on the next album by McCabe's band the Black Ships.
  • Source: Billboard
  • Kudos: Jadams

02 October 2010

Pete Salisbury with The Charlatans

The Charlatans played a BBC 6 live session recently along with Pete Salisbury filling in for Jon Brookes (of The Charlatans) on drums. Go to the BBC 6 Music website for pictures and live video of the performance.