Tweeting earlier, Ginger proudly announced, “YAAAYYY!!! 500%. You guys have done independent music proud! This is a historic hammering in of corporate coffin nails.” And followed it shortly after with an insight into the album’s title: “Now I can tell you the title of the triple album. It will be the final percent amount. With my lucky number 5 at the front we cannot fail.”

With almost a month left on the pledge and showing no signs of slowing, who knows what the final title of the album might end up being?

If you haven’t joined in yet, you have until February 29th to Pledge. Remember, Pledging is the only way to get all 30 tracks, and access to the behind the scenes videos, so don’t miss out.

Tweeted Ginger: “Hit the tarmac at Stanstead to hear that I’ve been added to the Download bill. Playing big festivals and landing safely make me very happy.”

Details are scant at the moment, but we’ll fill in the blanks as and when we have the information. In the meantime, you can check out the Download announcement here.

“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.

Gx”

The guitar broke the £5,000 reserve shortly after the auction was posted, climbing steadily throughout the week, before a flurry of late bidding and counter-bidding took the total to an impressive £17,000 which will go to help those in desperate need throughout the world.

In thanks to the winning bidder – an incredibly generous Japanese fan from Sendai – and to all those who helped to spread the word, Ginger Tweeted:

“SEVENTEEN FUCKING THOUSAND POUNDS!”,”I am the luckiest motherfucker out there. I’m in LOVE with you lot. You are fucking edible. Thank you. x”

before the following statement was issued:

“I feel proud to feel this connected to my supporters. I’m a very lucky guy. The money from the guitar will mean more to some than the memories mean to me. Often we have to give things away to get things in life, and in this case I’ll be receiving the gift of helping someone less fortunate than myself.”

You can get the download from Ginger’s Bandcamp, where you’ll also find a reminder of the dates and links to all the Facebook event pages.

Please download, pass on and enjoy!

The new UK Tour dates will take place in August, and are as follows:

• Tue 16 Aug – Wrexham, Central Station – Event Page
• Wed 17 Aug – Stoke, Sugarmill – Event Page
• Thu 18 Aug – Bolton, Dog & Partridge – Event Page
• Fri 19 Aug – Newcastle-upon-Tyne, O2 Academy 2 – Event Page
• Sat 20 Aug – Huddersfield, Parish – Event Page
• Sun 21 Aug – Bedford, Esquires – Event Page
• Mon 22 Aug – Oxford, O2 Academy 2 – Event Page
• Tue 23 Aug – Brighton, The Hydrant – Event Page
• Wed 24 Aug – Exeter, Cavern – Event Page
• Thu 25 Aug – Plymouth, White Rabbit – Event Page

Ginger will be ably assisted, although perhaps aided and abetted would be more accurate, by ‘Random’ Jon Poole and Eureka Machines’ Chris Catalyst, and special guests once again will be Willie Dowling & John Steel of the wonderful Jackdaw4. Anyone who caught the first leg will tell you that this is an evening not to be missed!

There are Facebook Event Pages for each date, so please let us know if you’re coming.

Tickets will be on sale soon. Keep checking the website for links.

Ginger’s famous, one-of-a-kind stickered Gibson Les Paul is being auctioned to raise money in aid of the British Red Cross.

Says Ginger, “Released in 1978 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Gibson Les Paul, I bought this guitar around 1987 when I was asked to join New York rockers The Throbs. After a short term in NYC the guitar came back to England with me to form The Wildhearts. I formed the band and recorded every Wildhearts album with this guitar (also Silver Ginger 5 ‘Black Leather Mojo’, Supershit 666 and multiple solo projects). This fine guitar acted as my main guitar on every tour The Wildhearts ever did, including the AC/DC ‘Ballbreaker’ tour, as well as appearances with Sex Pistols, Manic Street Preachers, and many more. And it rarely needed tuning onstage. Basically if you ever saw The Wildhearts I was playing this guitar and if you ever heard The Wildhearts then you were listening this guitar. Every song was written, played and recorded with this instrument. THIS is history.”

Any questions regarding the guitar can be addressed directly to Ginger via his Formspring account.

Click Here for the eBay auction.

Happy Bidding!

This time ’round, Ginger will be accompanied by Jase Edwards and ‘Random’ Jon Poole which is likely to result in an evening’s entertainment you won’t forget in a hurry. Special guests each night will be Willie Dowling & John Steel from the wonderful Jackdaw4.

The dates are:

• Thu 28th Apr – Sheffield, Corporation
• Fri 29th Apr – Tunbridge Wells, Forum
• Sat 30th Apr – London, Borderline
• Sun 01st May – York, Fibbers
• Mon 02nd May – Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach
• Tue 03rd May – Ashton-under-Lyne, The Witchwood
• Wed 04th May – Glasgow, Apollo 23
• Thu 05th May – Reading, Sub89
• Fri 06th May – Leicester, Sub91
• Sat 07th May – Southampton, Talking Heads
• Sun 08th May – Birmingham, HMV Institute

You can find event pages for each gig on Ginger’s Facebook.

Tickets for all shows are £10, except London which is £12.50, and are on sale now from the usual outlets – Please see our gig page for full details and ticket links.

With the full release of ¡Chutzpah! Jnr, and re-releases of classic Wildhearts albums (all of which are available on the webstore), through to the visual and sonic candy of the Guitarmageddon shows, and Ginger’s addition to The Michael Monroe Band line-up, we ended with a very successful set of Ginger & Friends shows following his legendary birthday show at the Garage in London.

Says Ginger:

“Thank you for turning up, in your wondrous droves, to watch the Xmas shows.

Gx”

We’d like to thank all of you for your continued support over the past year, and to wish each and every one of you a fantastic Christmas and an even better 2011!

Take care out there!

The Wildhearts Web Team

Ginger is looking for someone at each show (not including London) to get on stage and perform Vanilla Radio with the band. You’ll be playing the ‘high’ one string riff in the song. The ‘one string’ guitar will be a specially customised by Rich Jones and Tom Spencer,

At the end of the tour the band will decide which show had the best performance and that person will be given the Ginger and Friends guitar to keep!

So if you’re coming to the shows, and think you can play the one string high riff to Vanilla Radio with Ginger and Friends, get in touch.

The competition will be open until 5pm on the day before each show (so entries for Sheffield on Saturday need to be in by 5pm on Friday, etc.). At that time 5 people will be chosen at random and invited down to audition at soundcheck, with the best performer being asked to get up on stage for the show that night.

Soundcheck will usually take place at around 5pm, so make sure you can blag an early finish if you’re coming from work.

Please send your name, age, email address, phone number and which show you are attending to comp@gingerandfriends.com with the subject line “[show location] Vanilla Radio Comp”.

Or click these links for ready titled mails:

• Sheffield – Enter Competition – Entries by 5pm Friday 17th
• Manchester – Enter Competition – Entries by 5pm Saturday 18th
• Glasgow – Enter Competition – Entries by 5pm Sunday 19th
• Newcastle – Enter Competition – Entries by 5pm Monday 20th
• Wolverhampton – Enter Competition – Entries by 5pm Tuesday 21st
• Southampton – Enter Competition – Entries by 5pm Wednesday 22nd

Good Luck.