Wildhearts – revised UK dates
By Kris | February 27, 2004
We now have the revised UK tour dates following the band joining The Darkness’s US Tour. Geordie and Dublin fans should be pleased to hear that the dates now include additional shows in Newcastle and Dublin.
Wildhearts support the Darkness – previous tour cancelled
By Kris | February 25, 2004
You may be aware that some speculation over the forthcoming US tour has been circulating – we now have confirmation that the Wildhearts have been offered the opportunity to support the Darkness on their US tour and have accepted; this has meant that many of the shows on the original US tour have had to be cancelled.
Ginger has mailed the following message of explanation:
“We will stick by you, if you stick by us.
I apologise on behalf of the band and management for the cancellation of the forthcoming US tour, in favour of continuing to tour with The Darkness around the world. This Darkness tour means that we can reach more people, and that means coming back to headline USA a heck of a lot more in the future.
When we put the band back together, the manifesto was always to make it as successful as it should have been first time around, and opportunities like this U.S. Darkness tour come along ONCE in a lifetime. We just COULDN’T say no, when they offered it to us. And the tour was offered the day of the Brit awards, just a few days ago.
I know there are a lot of people that have bought plane tickets, concert tickets and spent weeks looking forward to seeing us on the co-headline tour with Dragons. All I can say to those people is that we will try to pay you back, and make it up to you in full, over the course of the next few years. We will help out with free guest tickets on the Darkness tour, where applicable (if you’ve spent a fucking fortune already then you deserve compensation), and try to make life comfortable for the true hardcore fans that were the first to buy tickets, etc, when we come back to play a proper headline tour. We will do everything we can to honour the dates already booked, until the Darkness tour starts. Believe me when I say that this is as big of a surprise to us as it is to you, and I hope this doesn’t lead to a mass exodus from the bands fanbase in US, although I do understand your disappointment.
But the future is ours to build, and we can’t build anything without moving a few things around. That is the way of change.
Once again I apologise, but have to ask the question “what would YOU have done in our position”?
I hope you stick with us, because this looks likely to be the best chance to crack the US that the band have ever had, and that has always been the wish of the American fans, as well as the band.
I hope you can understand the reasons for the decision. If not, please write to me at the ask Ginger section of the web site. I look forward to hearing from you.”
This means that the revised US schedule is as follows:
03/19/04 San Antonio, TX @ Sam’s Burger Joint
03/20/04 Austin, TC @ Emo’s Gearhead Records SXSW Showcase
03/21/04 New Orleans, LA @ The Circle Bar
03/22/04 Atlanta, GA @ E.A.R.L.
03/23/04 Charlotte, NC @ The Room
03/24/04 Baltimore, MD @ Otto Bar
Darkness Support Dates:
03/26/04 Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave Bar
03/27/04 Chicago, IL @ The Vic
03/28/04 Detroit, MI @ St. Andrew’s Hall
03/30/04 Cleveland, OH @ Peabody’s Downunder
03/31/04 Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Laga
04/02/04 Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts
04/03/04 Boston, MA @ Avalon Ballroom
04/04/04 Providence, RI @ Lupo’s at the Strand
04/06/04 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
04/08/04 Atlanta, GA @ Cotton Club
04/09/04 New Orleans, LA @ The House of Blues
04/11/04 Houston, TX @ Engine Room
04/12/04 Dallas, TX @ Trees
04/13/04 Austin, TX @ La Zona Rosa
04/15/04 Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre
04/16/04 Mission Beach, CA @ Canes Bar & Grill
04/17/04 Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theatre
04/18/04 Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theatre
The band and their management are also working hard at present to bring the Wildhearts over to the US again for their own US dates.
If any of you have purchased flight tickets, made hotel bookings and so on for a show that has now been cancelled, we suggest you check your travel insurance and flight refund policies if you decide not to make the trip. Also you may want to check with your credit card company as these purchases may also be insured within a grace period. Also all venues will of course honour reimbursements on tickets sold – please contact the source you bought them from for refund information.
Also this will have an impact on the UK tour – this is still going ahead, but the dates are being rescheduled by a week or so to accommodate this tour. We will bring you these new dates very shortly once they have all been confirmed. This of course will be with good friends Therapy? as mentioned before, so should make for some cracking shows!
On the subject of UK dates, an extra acoustic show has been added – they play The Limelight in Crewe on Saturday the 13th of March.
Finally, we know many of you will be obviously put out by this change of plans – if any of you have purchased flights etc and are unable to get refunds please contact us at website@thewildhearts.com and we will try and do what we can to help, although it should be noted that this is the Darkness’s tour and therefore the band and their management have only limited control on guest tickets.
Extra Ginger Acoustic Dates
By Kris | February 17, 2004
The upcoming tour schedule keeps on increasing, with two acoustic dates now scheduled for: March 12th – Doncaster – Leopard and March 14th – Ashton Under Lyne – The Witchwood.
Ginger Tour Diary with the Darkness
By Kris | February 17, 2004
Ginger has been putting together a diary about life on the road with the Darkness – the first installment is now in the features section.
Wildhearts – Backyard Babies off April tour, Therapy on
By Kris | February 17, 2004
A message from Ginger explaining the tour support: “I am saddened to see that the Backyard Babies have pulled out of our April tour. I know that a lot of people that read this web site, and the mailing list, are Backyard Babies fans, and I am sorry to those of you that have already bought tickets to see them.
An official explanation from the Backyard Babies has yet to surface, so I am still in the dark as to why this has happened.
We do, however, have Therapy? playing with us instead!!!!!
If anyone thinks that this is not just as good, if not better, a bill, then I suggest instant medical attention.
Therapy? are one of the greatest live bands to ever exist, and I for one, am as excited as fuck to be playing with them as our very special guests, and presumably wiping the floor with us on some nights. This is going to be a tough one.
It looks like The Glitterati are providing third on the bill thrills too, so get down early and see this lot before they go nuclear, and leave you behind. And they will.
Believe me, I think this is the best bill we have ever put together….and that’s really saying something.
Roll on April. Rock and Fucking Roll, Motherfuckers!!!”
Wildhearts Support and extra dates Spring 2004
By Kris | February 14, 2004
As The Wildhearts 2004 touring continues, the interest in the support acts for the April UK tour has been feverish.
We’re very pleased to report that the UK tour will feature a line-up mouth-watering enough to get even the most hardened rock cynic out of the pub to catch the support bands, as The Wildhearts will be accompanied by Therapy? and The Glitterati. Make sure you get your tickets – this one’s going to be good!
There’s also an additional warm-up date before the band take on America, with an appearance at Tunbridge Wells Forum – 4th March to go with the previously announced date at Torquay Town Hall on 5th March
Debaser gig and US Riff After Riff… details
By Kris | February 13, 2004
One very special date has been added to the Wildhearts’ European tour. The band headline the Debaser Club in Stockholm on 17th February. What makes this gig unique is the support slot, which will be filled by none other than Silver Ginger 5! As if that’s not enough, DJ duties will be provided by Boba and Robban from the Hellacopters. Entry is 60 Krone (18 and over only). There is no pre-sale at this time so make sure you get there early – and do get there any way you can!
We are glad to report that the tour has started very well – Amsterdam was a great gig and the boys went down famously, so if you are in a position to catch them on tour with the Darkness in Europe, get yourselves along – all the dates can be found on the Gigs page. You’ll find some images of the Amsterdam show on the Photos page. Remember, if you have any photos of the European tour we’d be happy to post them in the gallery – just drop us a line.
In other news, the track listing for ‘Riff After Riff’, the Gearhead Records USA-only release, has been announced:
1. Stormy In The North, Karma In The South
2. Putting It On
3. Looking For The One
4. Lake Of Piss
5. Better Than Cable
6. If I Decide
7. Bang!
8. Action Panzer
9. The People That Life Forgot
10. Move On
11. O.C.D.
12. Return To Zero (CD only)
13. Let’s Go
The album is released on March 6th and can be ordered via the Gearhead Records website
Wildhearts to tour America with The Dragons
By Kris | January 31, 2004
Watch out America! The Wildhearts are coming!
The dates are now in for the long awaited US Wildhearts tour (co-headlining with The Dragons):
Fri 3/19/04 San Antonio, TX @ Sam’s Burger Joint w/ The Dragons
Sat 3/20/03 Austin, TX @ Emo’s Gearhead Records SXSW Showcase (11pm set time)
Sun 3/21/04 New Orleans, LA @ Circle Bar w/ The Dragons
Mon 3/22/04 Atlanta, GA @ E.A.R.L. w/ The Dragons
Tue 3/23/04 Charlotte, NC @ The Room w/ The Dragons
Wed 3/24/04 Baltimore, MD @ Otto Bar w/ The Dragons
Thu 3/25/04 New York, NY @ CBGB’S w/ w/ The Dragons & Turbo AC’s
Fri 3/26/04 Philadelphia, PA @ The Khyber w/ The Dragons
Sat 3/27/04 Pittsburgh, PA @ 31st Street Pub w/ The Dragons
Sun 3/28/04 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom w/ The Dragons
Mon 3/29/04 Detroit, MI @ Lager House w/ Grand Nationals w/ The Dragons
Tue 3/30/04 Chicago, IL @ Double Door w/ The Dragons
Wed 3/31/04 Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club w/ The Dragons
Thu 4/1/04 Des Moines, IA @ Hairy Mary’s w/ The Dragons
Fri 4/2/04 Kansas City, MO @ The Brick w/ The Dragons
Sat 4/3/04 Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge w/ The Dragons
Tue 4/6/04 Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress
Wed 4/7/04 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah w / The Dragons
Thu 4/8/04 Hollywood, CA @ The Troubadour w/ The Dragons
Fri 4/9/04 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
Riff After Riff – the first US Wildhearts release since Earth Vs – will be released on March 9th and will be available from Gearhead Records
Grievous Acoustic Behaviour – January ’04
By Kris | January 30, 2004
Ginger, Jon Poole and Hot Steve – Acoustic Tour – Jan 2004 ยท Words by Hot Steve
Monday 26 January – Wolverhampton Civic Bar
Well it don’t really get any crazier for the first day back in the office after the Xmas break! There are certain things that can and actually will happen to just us. The lucky ones, I guess you could call us, as there is a payoff at the end of the day where we get to do something out of the ordinary – i.e. play in front of you lot – the huddled masses. Sod’s law dictates that if something can happen, it will happen to us.
Take our first day back! It began easy enough. A well planned early morning departure from Kettering to collect the guitar from the West End of London, so as not to violate a new year resolution by Ginger not to drive in the aforementioned West End. Rendezvous with Jonny Poole and Ginger and travel the few hours to Wolverhampton and run through the set before the ‘normal’ thing that we do entertains you all.
This is where Sod’s law comes out to play.
It could only happen to us that just after leaving London we survive our first ‘drive by’!
Driving along and the side window just explodes, covering a hapless Jon in broken glass and extreme cold! A quick clean up at the side of the road couldn’t locate the magic bullet, so we had to quickly move on to the services where the sniper couldn’t get a second shot.
In true road crew style, an improvised ‘window’ was crafted from the finest cardboard and gaffa tape and held in place for a while until it got too wet and just flew out. The second window was a masterpiece! Until that too succumbed to wear and tear, but after several attempts by the valiant Ginger to gaffa tape the cardboard ‘window’ back to the door while traveling at speed down the M6 we finally made it to Wolvo.
The Civic Hall complex in Wolverhampton houses several gigs and we were in the next but smallest one so we must be getting better I guess. Interesting fact! The last time I was here, the dressing room we were afforded was home to the lovely Ms Amy lee from Evanescence. Which made our dressing room the Jacuzzi stacked luxury accommodation we come to expect these days.
My recollections of the gig are strange. It all flew by so fast I can’t actually remember much but it was all good fun. With heckling duly provided from an imported Doncaster renta crowd I ended up really enjoying myself!
I haven’t played a proper acoustic geetar for a while and the sensation that got me the most was losing most of the skin from my strumming finger! Claret everywhere! Playing an acoustic guitar in this stylee is almost akin to strumming a cheese grater!
It doesn’t look much but boy can i bleed a lot from just one little hole!
Finally, while I was undertaking important tour managing duties (counting the money) I missed out on the ‘filling the Jacuzzi with shower gel gag’ Oh well. Can’t be in 8 places at once.
All I can say after day one is that I don’t think there’s anything out of the ordinary that can’t happen to us!
Roll on day 2!!!
Tuesday 27 January – Oxford Zodiac
Joy after joy after sweet joy! The day started with trying to find the car, then trying to find the hotel with the car. If the traffic warden was really trying to cheer me up by giving me a ticket then she made my day! The plan to fix the offending window was to blast up to Donny and get the hire place to fix it.
The thing with actually going home while on tour is that you are ‘passing through’ and hence don’t actually feel that you are in your own high street, even though there you are passing your mates in the street. After a lengthy visit to the tobacco shop I was re-united with one of Doncaster’s favourite ‘strange people’. The guy in question is Earl. I have seen this bloke around for years and he has always been in town. He used to hide behind lampposts and wheelie bins and ‘shoot’ people with his loaded finger. I haven’t seen him for years so I can only assume he has been receiving mental health treatment as he did get quite violent at times when he was asking for 30p so he could get to Rotherham for his ‘operation’. So the first person that Ginger and Jon met in this fair town was the local nutter!
Albeit a more polite and friendlier Earl than before. So after the purchase of a quantity chewing tobacco by the name of ‘black pig’ and ‘great bogey’ we set off and tried to get to Oxford before the day ran out. Apparently Ginger’s new found pipe-smoking activities have been called the most ‘unrock ‘n’ roll thing ever seen’. I don’t get it! The pipe smoker monthly will be contacted forthwith! Never mind banning cigarette smoking I think pipe smoking should be encouraged! It smells so good!
Once re-glazed, the 2-hour journey to 3rd division rivals Oxford commenced.
One of the best things about these acoustic shows for us is that we can spend the day in a different place and just turn up at the last minute as it were, chuck the gear in, do a quick sound check and then bang! You’re on! With the band thing you have to be there all day setting up. This is a dream! And loads of fun obviously. After the support band (the Moneyshots) warmed up the crowd we took to the stage once again for another night of un-scripted
mayhem.
After the first few songs I looked down to notice a large amount of blood on my guitar hmmm… The wound from the first night had opened up and I had bled all over the strings but hopefully not the front row.
I can’t remember the set list but I can remember a few howlers coming from my general area! Try it girls and boys! Drive 300 miles, sort the gig out and go on to play with freezing cold fingers and go straight into Sky Babies! Ouch!
Highlight of the night for me was the pop idol reject getting up and doing ‘Shut Your Fucking Mouth…’! Sheer class!
In the car on the way home it started to snow heavily and our thoughts turned to getting dug out of our tour bus on the M11 the following day! Can’t fucking wait! See ya
Wednesday 28 January – Cambridge Boatrace
One of the weird things about the acoustic touring schedule is that we have enough time in the day to get on with things as normal and then go to the show in the evening. Today’s ‘normal’ excursion was for myself and the mighty Jon Poole to venture into the West End again to get some strings for my geetar. Jumping on the tube we headed direct for Soho and a quick scan round the adult shops (purely for research purposes mind!) A feeling of deja vu came over me when I realized this was exactly what we did on the last tour before trying to get up the M11 to the Colchester show last year.
We set off in time to drive the 50 or so miles to Cambridge, leaving early to allow for the bad weather that was on its way. As I said, the last time we used the M25 to get to the M11 to get to the Colchester night of the living dead show it rained a bit and the great British driving public went to shit and started crashing!
As if to repeat history, as soon as the little white flakes became big white flakes and you couldn’t see where you were going, the Brits did what they are best at! Panic like mad and start crashing. I’m in a great privileged position as I have driven all over the world and in much more severe weather than this and I can safely say this sceptered isle’s drivers are the worst in the world. There was little old me in the car trying to keep up with the rear lights of the car in front when Joe white van man came hurling past threw up a great wash of slush into my path and I ended up nearly going off the road! To conclude my little rant-ette I won’t go on about how unprepared this country is for bad weather but I was scared at times last night on the road and I’ve never felt like that before. Alright, I nearly had the car doing Torvil and Dean impressions in the outside lane but come on Britain! Get your self sorted out! Learn how to drive properly and for heaven’s sake let’s use some of our road tax to actually make the roads better eh! Now there’s an idea.
It was a stressed, cold Steve that got to the boat race late to be greeted with a pleasant enough promoter but no dressing room. Letting us use the top of the stairs rectified this. Luxury eh! It always gets me how everyone wants to get backstage at gigs. It’s always the smallest, most horrible room in the building, cramped and smelly and never has its own toilet!. I know the venue was closing down and most people just seemed to have accepted the fact but come on venues! Let’s see a bit of enthusiasm towards the people who are making you money behind the bar eh! I remember the gig being great actually and I think we even played a version of ‘The Boys Of Summer’. Bizarre.
Bonus points go to the blond metaller who remained drunken most of the night, gave us a picture of a cat with a crash-helmet on and then proceeded to knock out the promoter while shutting the bar. I don’t live in Cambridge obviously and I can sympathize with the good folks for losing a venue of such a high caliber.
Thursday 29 January – High Wycombe White Horse
As last days go, Thursday was a bit of a weird one. With the weather still affecting the good people of England’s decisions to travel more than 30 yards from their doorstep, I wasn’t really expecting a record-breaking attendance at High Wycombe. A morning of sliding round the side roads of West Hampstead trying to find a parking space every 2 hours had put me in reflective mood on how much fun this actually is! Imagine my situation – I’m the guitar tech for the wildhearts and that’s my job. Before I was a geetar tech I played in bands and stuff and it’s a side of me that has been neglected over the years. I love playing live and to have the chance to play acoustic guitar (albeit not very well at times) for what is basically a relaxed wildhearts is a dream ticket. It really is a laugh at all times. To be on the same stage with Jon and Ginger whom I have massive respect for as musicians is just stunning. Not wanting to go on too much but I’m playing with one of the countries best songwriters in Ginger and possibly the greatest musician I have ever met in Jon Poole and we are all there giving it out in pubs round the UK! You lucky lucky people!
As soon as we entered the White Horse we were met with the sort of welcome that we will remember for a long time. It was so nice to be treated with a welcoming handshake a cup of tea and a relaxed informative introduction to the place. Full marks to the staff of the white horse for making us feel welcome and wanted. My only upset was that my super sexy black Gibson Everly Bros guitar had run out of batteries and was making a better distorted sound than the Strat. I ended up having to borrow lovely support person Purple Claire’s axe for our set. Thanks a lot Claire!
It’s always the same though; as soon as you get into your stride gig-wise, it’s time to stop. I had just got the hang of singing as well as playing and was really enjoying playing TV Tan when it was time to stop and go back to looking after the guys in the band!
The gig was marvelous! Top quality entertainment I think you will agree! So after driving over a thousand miles, surviving drive-by shootings, dicing with death on Britain’s worst motorway in the snow and not drinking much, it’s all over for a while!
There are more of these shows planned and I for one can’t wait! Bring it on! Time to go back to Doncaster have a weekend with my mates and get ready for the month to come.
See you at the UK shows and on the Darkness tour! Oh yeah!
HOT STEVE
Spin Review
By Kris | January 20, 2004
From the forthcoming issue of SPIN (Feb 2004), “The Wildhearts Must Be Destroyed” reviewed by Doug Brod is the highest rated album reviewed, even on import and without having a US label backing it up!
Read on for the full review…
For better, not worse, the Wildhearts may the least fashionable band in rock’n’roll: too metal for pop fans, too pop for metalheads, fun but necessarily funny. And they’ve made the catchiest hard-rock record you’ll hear this year.
Myriad line-up changes, drug madness, and soured record deals have led the Wildhearts to release only a handful of legit studio albums in their 14-year career, through their singles still routinely crash the U.K. Top 40. On Destroyed – which re-teams singer/guitarist Ginger with two of the guys who played on the band’s lone U.S. release, 1993’s Earth vs. the Wildhearts – they come off like a British version of another great singles band, Cheap Trick, especially since “Only Love” and “Top Of The World” are each a word away from being Cheap Trick titles, while yet another, “It’s All Up To Me” does a reversal on that band’s “It’s Up To You”.
Gearhead Records (first US home to the Hives) will release a raucous B-sides collection here in March, but Destroyed better displays Ginger mastery of the roaring riff and indelible refrain. The raging “Nexus Icon” begins with a distorted staccato howl decrying celebrity worship and segues into the disarmingly sweet- natured “Only Love,” which suggests the Beatles on steroids – or at least ephedrines. On “Someone That Won’t Let Me Go,” Ginger needs a lover who’s “Gonna make me feel I truly am the best that I can get,” and by the 2.10 mark, he’s delivering a thrilling pitch shift to rival the key change in “Livin’ On A Prayer.”
Things get ferocious with “Get Your Groove On,” a lockstep thrash featuring guest screams by the Darkness’ Justin Hawkins. But at heart Ginger is a lover man, and he saves his choicest words for “So Into You,” with witty self deprecation (“I like your taste in outfits/ But I love your taste in misfits”) and lets a Police-style interlude stands so close to the glammed-out crunch. If this is unfashionable, bring on the drum solos.
DOUG BROD – EXECUTIVE EDITOR SPIN
GRADE A