Wine Inspired Musings
By Ginger | September 17, 2009
So that last rehearsal is done, we’ve eaten the best Indian food that Bradford has to offer (Saffron, check it out) and now we’re waiting for the bus to turn up and take us onto the Wildhearts tour that I’m more excited about than any in a very long time.
The difference?
We are playing songs that feature backing tracks and de-tuned guitars, the sound I’ve wanted for the band for so long.
It really feel like we are bringing something new to the show with this set, we really feel like we are doing something that excites us after all these years.
There is little point in a band like us staying still after almost 20 years. We must do something that we haven’t tried before otherwise we’ll turn into a bunch of trees. Big, bored trees. In a tired old punk-o-metal forest. Or something.
Seriously, hearing the band so hopped up on volume, harmonies and riffs is a thrill that I can’t wait for you lot to experience.
This feels new. It feels fresh.
Yeah, I know, people have used samples and loops before, but the point is that we haven’t.
There aren’t many things that can stimulate after doing it this long, and we are stimulated. Mighty stimulated.
This is a sound that I feel thoroughly buzzed about. Something that we will feature for the rest of our career, if I have anything to do with it.
Fizzy pop punk is dead for The Wildhearts, we are going to take this somewhere unknown. Who on earth knows where that is, but it’s going to be an amazing ride.
The story is far from over.
Fuck, I feel like I’m in a new band now.
And as awesome as we think this album is we cannot wait to record the next one. Who knows what crazy shit that album will throw up?
As always expect the unexpected.
Man, sometimes it’s great to be in a band!
Gx
Limited Edition Chutzpah Football Shirt And Tour Poster
By Ean | September 15, 2009
A Limited Edition Chutzpah! Football Shirt will be available on the forthcoming tour.
This is a fully functional, top of the line football shirt using the latest ClimaTec technical fabric – er, it says here – and I’m sure all you footy fans will know just how great that is!
This will be a strictly limited edition run for the duration of the tour and ONLY available at the gigs. Once they’re gone they’re gone, so buy early!
There will also be a limited edition Art Print on sale!
These really will be very limited. To only 300 in fact! A proper Art Print on heavy stock paper! If you’re lucky the odd signed one may find its way into the pile!
Click the pics for a better view.
Deafening And Awesome
By Ginger | September 13, 2009
Just a quickie to say that rehearsals are sounding fucking immense.
I honestly thought it would take us ages to get these new songs together, but within a couple of days we’ve nailed the bastards and are polishing their little extremities like well loved nubbins of the rock apocalypse, or would that be rockalypse? Actually no it wouldn’t, as it is crap.
Think we may well just go with your idea of playing the album in its entirety, then come back on and play a bunch of more well known songs as the encore.
It could be really weird to have everyone stand gawping at us, not dancing, not going nuts, but staring like an audition for some competition you already kinda won. Or maybe it won’t? Maybe it’ll be as sexy as a stripper dressed as a rabbit? Actually strippers don’t dress, or else they’d be called dressers. And then they’d have to rename the wooden things you put clothes in. Then the universe would start making odd new sounds as it spins on its plinth and we’d all be fucked.
I think you know what I’m saying, and I think you know what language I’m saying it in.
Yeah, that’s right. The language of severe volume.
Will write more when this fucking whistling in my head stops.
See you at the front.
Ouch!
Gx
UK Tour: Support Bands Announced
By Ean | September 8, 2009
The Band have announced tour support for the forthcoming UK dates.
They are:
Black Spiders – http://www.myspace.com/theblackspiders
And
No Americana – http://www.myspace.com/noamericana
Be sure to get to the venues early to check them out.
There may be some surprises too.
Just a reminder that there are still some tickets left for the tour, the dates are below, and ticket details can be found on the tour page.
17-Sep-09 Brighton Concorde 2
18-Sep-09 Bristol O2 Academy
19-Sep-09 Nottingham Rock City
20-Sep-09 Norwich Waterfront
21-Sep-09 Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
22-Sep-09 Exeter Phoenix
24-Sep-09 Birmingham O2 Academy 2
25-Sep-09 Stoke-On-Trent The Sugarmill
26-Sep-09 Leeds Cockpit
27-Sep-09 Glasgow Garage
28-Sep-09 Newcastle upon Tyne O2 Academy
30-Sep-09 Manchester Club Academy
01-Oct-09 Shepherds Bush Empire
See you there!
Help Us Decide The Setlist!
By Scott | September 2, 2009
Alright ladies and gents, the guys and I have a debate that needs to be settled and we need YOU to help us. For the upcoming tour this September, should we….
A. Play Chutzpah! in its entirety alongside a handful of best of’s and old classics
or
B. Play a set full of old classics and best of’s with a few choice cuts from Chutzpah! thrown in
Rehearsals are right around the corner and we need to figure out what the hell we’re doing so let us know your thoughts.
Cheers.
Scotty
The Wait Is Over: ‘Chutzpah!’ Is Here!
By Ean | August 31, 2009
Monday… What You Up To?
Getting your hair done? Lunch with mum? Working?
Hey, you can do all those things AND go buy The Wildhearts’ new album Chutzpah! From 9am until whenever your local record emporium closes. You can make it, you can do it. Why? Because we here at WHHQ feel that you deserve it. You’ve been good, you’ve been loyal and you’ve been considerate to those around you. You’ve bought Xmas presents, remembered birthdays (mostly) and told the right people that you love them. So what’s in all this ‘being awesome’ business for you?
And that, my friends, is where Chutzpah! comes in.
Call it a reward for your ever enduring goodness. A treat that you award yourself, much like a bath or a wank.
And all for the price of a round of drinks?
Those drinks will be consumed far quicker than your enjoyment of this album will dissipate. Maybe even quicker than it will take to even listen to it, and it’s only 30 odd minutes long.
What does that say about your drinking habits?
Only that you work hard, you party hard, and you love hard.
And you’ll love this album.
Thanks for treating yourself, you deserve it.
Gx
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The album is now available to purchase from all good retailers, both on the high street (what’s left of them anyway) and online, as a CD and digital download:
Check out the rave press reviews the album has been receiving at the forum here.
And check it out for yourself with the streaming clips on our Myspace and Facebook pages.
The band start their UK tour on 17th September in Brighton, finishing in London on 1st October, after which they head over to Japan for 3 dates. Check out the tour page for full details.
Vegas, Baby!
By Ginger | August 31, 2009
Picked up by Billy and Jen this morning we met up with Chris and Donovan from Camp Freddy at Burbank airport before being hurriedly rushed into the plane (where we scan the terrifying spectacle of fires tearing across LA, amid billowing plumes of white and red smoke, as the plane flies almost above), business class, natch. Camp Freddy don’t do things small. This operation makes my biggest shows look like pub gigs, hell they make everyone’s shows look like pub gigs.
Straight into the rooms (VIP natch, this one I’m sitting in is fucking huge) and then down to soundcheck, in this cavernous, 4000 seater venue, where I find myself singing You Really Got Me with John 5 and Surrender with Corey Taylor and Mark McGrath singing backing harmonies, while Dave Navarro shows me their new arrangement of the track. Duff McKagan is here, as is Matt Sorum (watching them play It’s So Easy brings a shiver to the skin), and then Steve Stevens and Corey Taylor join the CF circus for an astounding rendition of Rebel Yell. Corey really has the best pipes in the business, no doubt about it.
Just ate the best catering I’ve ever eaten in the dressing room, and I’m now waiting for the meet and greet, where Ozzy and family will be present.
It’s a surreal day, and one that I thought I should share with you.
Vegas is a place that Camp Freddy were formed to play. Their ultra-pro, huge production sits at ease with the larger than life attitude that this place is famous for. No one acts like stars in this outfit, more like a mutual appreciation society that get to hang out and play their favourite songs with each other.
Tonight I will play Anarchy In The UK, with Steve Jones.
This could be the most wonderful live experience of my life.
I’ll let you know how it went.
Vegas, baby. First class. Life is sweet.
Gx
Chutzpah! Streaming Clips
By Ean | August 30, 2009
As a bank holiday treat, we’re streaming extended clips of the new album on our Myspace and Facebook pages for the next couple of days to give you all a taster before you rush out and buy the album – right!?
Head over there and check them out:
Fish? And Chips
By Ritch | August 30, 2009
Strange butterfly feelings in my stomach. It could only be one of two things. It’s either because we’re about to go on tour and play a load of new songs I don’t remember how to play, and I am going to have to start learning all over. Or I’m pregnant!…………..Again!
I rush to the laptop and on my way to the Wildhearts tour page I get sidetracked and disappear down a very wobbly pathway. There’s an RAC van coming right towards me, and the driver is looking very, very sad and depressed. I’d say he was on his way to a breakdown.
After perusing the comforting pages of www.don’tbesostoopidofcoursemencan’tgetpregnanttwice.co.uk I conveniently reappear at my original destination only to find I’ve got some bloody homework to do. Well there’s no time like the present. I’m about 3 bars into the 1st song when my simple little mind goes skip, skip, skipping off and before I know it I’m thinking about last nights fish and chips. Mr. C’s! The pride of Yorkshire. Well it was a very pleasant supper but I can’t stop thinking about the texture of that fish being just a little bit too similar to that of chicken. (not that hat’s a bad thing, ‘oh no’!) (In the voice of the Churchill dog) Then I start wondering if Mr. C has a little secret. And what does that C really stand for. It’s Mr. bloody Chicken! I knew it! I knew there was something funny going on.
I wake with a bloated belly and to the sound of my son crying like a baby (he’s allowed to, he’s 17 months old). I realize that I actually know all the songs very well. Still not sure about that fish though!
New Tour Intro Tape Competition
By Ean | August 28, 2009
We have a slightly unusual challenge for you guys.
The band want someone to record the intro tape that will be played before they take to the stage for the upcoming live shows.
As this was Ritchie’s idea, we’ll let him explain:
“Well, my idea was to run another comp for people to send in themselves shouting a boxing style intro for the intro tape, something like ‘Ladies and Gentlemen all the way from……blah blah blah blah……..please welcome the best rock ‘n’ roll band in the world THE WILDHEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAARTS’ etc.”
So there you have it!
The winner will get 2 Backstage Passes to the show of their choice, signed shirts and photos with the band.
Just a few conditions for your recordings:
• It needs to be a boxing style intro.
• It needs to be recorded using a decent microphone. The built-in one on your laptop or preferably better – NO mobile phone recordings.
• The recording must not be clipped or have any distortion.
• The recording must be between 15 and 30 seconds long.
• What the message says is up to you, but must start with ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’ and end with ‘…The Wildhearts!’
• It needs to be sent as a high quality MP3.
• The metadata for the file MUST include your name, email address and a phone number.
Send your entries as a high quality MP3 to comp@thewildhearts.com with the email subject ‘Intro Tape Competition’.
Closing date for entries is Sunday 6th September.
Good luck.
Notes, Terms & Conditions
• ‘Metadata’ refers to the trackname/album/artist/etc. details stored as part of the MP3 file for identification purposes.
• The winner will be contacted as soon as possible after the closing date and judging has taken place.
• The name of the winner will be posted on The Wildhearts’ website – www.thewildhearts.com
• The Backstage Pass includes entry for the winner and one friend to the winner’s chosen date only. You are responsible for getting yourself to and from the venue.
• The Wildhearts’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.