The Wildhearts » christmas

A Christmas message from Ginger

Andy, Ean & Kris — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:57:47 +0000

Now that hopefully you all recovered from a fantastic end-of-year tour and a stunning Birthday show in London, Ginger would like to share with you all this personal message:

“2011 will be a year I’ll never forget. Beginning the year by enduring a brief dance with budgetary disaster (The Frankenstein Effect, which will hopefully be put straight soon in 2012) the year continued into great disappointment as I left the Michael Monroe band under circumstances beyond my control, and then seemed to hit a wall sometime in July when I seriously considered giving up the idea of making a living from music. It appeared time in my life to get a proper job.

On asking a very successful friend of mine in NYC (name withheld in order to save blushes) to look for employment for me he insisted that whatever I choose to do be sure it is something I would happily do for free. That, he told me, is the only way to truly succeed in anything.
But what on earth would I do for free that would help feed my family?
My cynicism refused to believe that such mystic mumbo jumbo would help a family in the north of England and a musician all but convinced that he had failed.

In fact the only thing I do for free is chat to supporters of my music online in a bid to rid myself of any lingering ‘rock star’ mystique and build a solid community of music lovers.

Lovely as they are, how the bloody hell are THEY going to help?

Cutting to the present day, with the success of the record breaking Pledge campaign and the love caked December tour this seems an appropriate point for me to take back any doubt in the power of a strong and loyal fanbase.
You have changed my predicament and given me hope for the future.
You have improved my life in ways you may never fully comprehend.
It’s funny because I hear that I occasionally do a similar thing for some folk over at Formspring.
On evidence such as this I can only remain completely convinced that we are in this together. To help each other.

Have an amazing Xmas in the knowledge that you’ve all done something amazing this year. You all helped a man when he was down, really down. You turned someone’s life around.
The fact that it was someone you all share a musical fondness for, well, consider this a down payment for quality product, selfless service and a level of gratitude that I hope you are all lucky enough to feel yourselves.

As long as you are there then I’ll be here. And THAT, my good friends, is a deal.

God bless you all. I fucking love you. True story.

Gx”

Ginger And Friends Tour Kicks Off

Ean — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:31:06 +0000

Now that the Triple Album Project has hit the halfway point, it’s time for Ginger to take a break.

Of course, since Ginger doesn’t really do ‘time off’, and given that a change is as good as a rest, he’s heading out on tour instead for a thirteen night Rock’n'Roll Christmas party.

Starting in Swansea tonight, Ginger and Friends take in the Hard Rock Hell festival tomorrow before a flying visit to Finland. The band then hits a UK venue near you in the build-up to a two night stay in London for the long sold out Islington Birthday show on December 17th, and a final blow out at the Relentless Garage the night after.

The friends joining Ginger this time around are ‘Random’ Jon Poole, Rich Jones and Denzil for the Hard Rock Hell and Helsinki shows. And meeting them at the airport when they get back will be Chris Catalyst and Victoria Liedtke who will join them for the rest of the tour.

The boys (and girl!) will be performing a fully electrified set, and will be playing a variety of material including many rarely played Wildhearts songs – plus a healthy serving of tracks from Ginger’s solo releases.

The full list of dates, along with ticket links is as follows:

Thu 01st Dec – Swansea, Sin City (Tickets)
Fri 02nd Dec – Hard Rock Hell (Tickets)
Sat 03rd Dec – Helsinki, On The Rocks (Tickets)
Wed 07th Dec – Manchester, Moho Live (Tickets)
Thu 08th Dec – Glasgow, Garage (Tickets)
Fri 09th Dec – Newcastle, Academy (Tickets)
Sat 10th Dec – Leeds, Cockpit (Tickets)
Sun 11th Dec – Southampton, Talking Heads (Tickets)
Mon 12th Dec – Norwich, Waterfront (Tickets)
Tue 13th Dec – Bristol, Fleece (Tickets)
Thu 15th Dec – Wolverhampton, Wulfrun (Tickets)
Sat 17th Dec – London, Islington Academy (Birthday Show) SOLD OUT
Sun 18th Dec – London, Relentless Garage (Tickets)

Support on all dates is Hawkeyes and Exit_International, except Swansea (supported by Exit_International only) and Helsinki (supported by Stalingrad Cowgirls). Note there will be no support acts at the birthday gig to allow more time for Ginger.

Tickets for the UK shows (excluding Hard Rock Hell) are priced £12.50 (£15 in London).

UK And European Shows In December

Ean — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:43:35 +0000

The Wildhearts have announced a number of European dates during December, they are:

2/12/09 Stockholm, Sweden – Göta Källare
3/12/09 Gothenburg, Sweden – Sticky Fingers
4/12/09 Jevnaker, Norway – The Untouchables Hard Rock Club
5/12/09 Copenhagen, Denmark – The Rock
9/12/09 Tampere, Finland – Klubi
10/12/09 Helsinki, Finland – Nosturi
12/12/09 Joensuu, Finland – Kellari

Special guests in Stockholm will be Conny Bloom and Dregen, and support for the Finnish dates comes from The Souls.

There will also be an exhibition of Wildhearts collectables and memorabilia at Helsinki City Library from the 8th December.

Following Ginger’s birthday show on the 17th December (Have you got your tickets yet?) the band will play some Christmas shows in the UK:

19/12/09 Leeds, UK – Rio’s
21/12/09 Wolverhampton, UK – Wulfrun Hall
22/12/09 London, UK – O2 Academy Islington

See the Tour page for full details and ticket links.