The Wildhearts – UK tour – Spring 2004
By Kris | January 19, 2004
Not content with European and US tours, The Wildhearts will be returning to the UK in April to rack up even more road miles with a tour taking in 14 shows in just 15 days! Additionally the band have added a further warm-up show in February at Dudley JB’s.
The full UK dates for the forthcoming months are as follows:
26/01/04: Wolverhampton – Civic Bar (Ginger Acoustic)
27/01/04: Oxford – Zodiac (Ginger Acoustic)
28/01/04: Cambridge – Boat Race (Ginger Acoustic)
29/01/04: High Wycombe – White Horse (Ginger Acoustic)
04/02/04: Dudley – JB’s (Warm-up date)
06/02/04: Whitehaven – Civic Hall (Warm-up date)
07/02/04: Wrexham – Central Station (Warm-up date)
08/02/04: Brighton – Concord 2 (Warm-up date)
13/04/04: Liverpool – Academy
14/04/04: Sheffield – Leadmill
15/04/04: Wolverhampton – Wulfrun Hall
16/04/04: Bristol – Academy
17/04/04: Southampton – University
18/04/04: Cardiff – Uni Solus
19/04/04: Hammersmith – Palais
20/04/04: Norwich – Waterfront
22/04/04: Oxford – Brookes University
23/04/04: Manchester – Academy
24/04/04: Glasgow – Garage
25/04/04: Edinburgh – Liquid Rooms
26/04/04: Leeds – Met University
27/04/04: Nottingham – Rock City
The Wildhearts – Darkness European Tour Support
By Kris | January 17, 2004
We’ve been deluged with questions about what the Wildhearts are warming up for in February. I’ll leave Ginger to explain the good news:
“I’m delighted to say that we are being invited to join The Darkness on their European tour. Some bands promise a lot when they start out, and often forget all about promises made when things take off for them. Or simply turn into fucking arseholes that forget their roots.
Well not many bands take off bigger than the Darkness, and I’m delighted to say that they have lived up to every promise they made. Genuine guys with real talent? Now THAT is fucking rare. God bless ’em for remembering us, and helping someone other than themselves.
If you are in a band you should learn something from bands like The Darkness. And of course the Wildhearts!”
The tour begins on Feb 10th in Amsterdam and takes in dates across Europe, finishing on March 2nd before the band head out to the US (full dates coming soon). The band can’t wait to play to new audiences across Europe, with CJ commenting “It’s going to be a fine tour and I can’t wait to get my mouth round a big juicy bratwurst. Hold the mayo ‘motherfucka'”
The full Darkness dates are as follows:
10th Feb – The Max, Melkweg, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
11th Feb – Gr?nspan, Hamburg, Germany
12th Feb – KB Hallen, Copenhagen, Denmark
14th Feb – Arenan, Fryshuset, Stockholm, Sweden
15th Feb – Rockefeller Music Hall, Oslo, Norway
19th Feb – Columbiafritz, Berlin, Germany
21st Feb – Flex, Vienna, Austria
22nd Feb – New Backstage, Munich, Germany
23rd Feb – Transilvania, Milan, Italy
25th Feb – Limmathaus, Zurich, Switzerland
26th Feb – Batschkapp, Frankfurt, Germany
27th Feb – Zeche, Bochum, Germany
29th Feb – Laiterie, Strasbourg, France
1st March – Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, Belgium
2nd March – Elysee Montmartre, Paris, France
Wildhearts Warmup Dates
By Kris | January 13, 2004
The Wildhearts will be playing several full electric warm-up gigs in February, the dates are as follows:
6th Feb – Whitehaven – Civic hall
7th Feb – Wrexham – Central station
8th Feb – Brighton – Concord 2
Ticket information will be added to the tour page shortly.
Rescheduled Acoustic Dates
By Kris | January 6, 2004
We’ve received information about four of the acoustic dates that have been rescheduled:
26th Jan – Wolverhampton Civic Bar
27th Jan – Oxford Zodiac
28th Jan – Cambridge Boat Race
29th Jan – High Wycombe White Horse
Depending on the venue’s policy (worth checking with the venue), tickets from the postponed tour will either have been refunded or will remain valid for these shows.
Wildhearts Japan 2003 Setlists
By Kris | January 6, 2004
Full set-lists from the December 2003 Wildhearts shows are included below; many thanks to Maz who runs: www.wildhearts.jp for these!
Setlists as follows:
| Zepp Tokyo – 1st Dec 2003 1. Nexus Icon 2. Suckerpunch 3. Vanilla Radio 4. Everlone 5. Someone That Won’t Let Me Go 6. Stormy In The North, Karma In The South 7. Nothing Ever Changes But The Shoes 8. Top of the World 9. O.C.D. 10. Jonesing For Jones 11. GiNGER Solo 1 12. Caffeine Bomb 13. GiNGER Solo 2 14. Action Panzer 15. GiNGER Solo 3(Riff) 16. My Baby Is A Headfuck 17. Caprice encore 18. I Wanna Go Where The People Go 19. Sky Babies 20. Love U ‘Till I Don’t |
Club Citta – 2nd Dec 2003 1. Nexus Icon 2. Suckerpunch 3. Vanilla Radio 4. Get Your Groove On 5. Everlone 6. Someone That Won’t Let Me Go 7. Stormy In The North, Karma In The South 8. Woah Shit, You Got Through 9. Top of the World 10. O.C.D. 11. Jonesing For Jones 12. GiNGER Solo 13. Caffeine Bomb 14. Action Panzer 15. Nita Nitro 16. Caprice encore 17. Nothing Ever Changes But The Shoes 18. I Wanna Go Where The People Go 19. Love U ‘Till I Don’t |
Osaka – Club Quattro – 3rd Dec 2003 1. Nexus Icon 2. Suckerpunch 3. Vanilla Radio 4. Get Your Groove On 5. Everlone 6. Someone That Won’t Let Me Go 7. Stormy In The North, Karma In The South 8. Woah Shit, You Got Through 9. Top of the World 10. Jonesing For Jones 11. O.C.D. 12. Caffeine Bomb 13. GiNGER Solo 14. Action Panzer 15. Caprice encore 16. I Wanna Go Where The People Go 17. My Baby is a headfuck 18. Nothing Ever Changes But The Shoes 19. Sick of drugs 20. Dangerlust 21. Sky Babies |
Nagoya – Club Quattro 4th Dec 2003 1. Get Your Groove On 2. Suckerpunch 3. Vanilla Radio 4. Everlone 5. Stormy In The North, Karma In The South 6. Woah Shit, You Got Through 7. Top of the World 8. O.C.D. 9. Nita Nitro 10. Jonesing For Jones 11. Caffeine Bomb 12. Action Panzer 13. Caprice encore 14. Nothing Ever Changes But The Shoes 15. I Wanna Go Where The People Go 16. Love U til I don’t |
Ginger Says – We cannot fail – because the only critic capable of thwarting our zest for life, for the unchartered and intensely difficult times ahead, is ourselves
By Ginger | January 5, 2004
HAPPY NEW YEAR, ALL YOU FAITHFUL…
…and go fuck yourself, all you moaning bastards that have marred what was otherwise a perfectly rotten 2003!
Jeez, what a year!
It started well. Independently reaching the hallowed UK top 20 and appearing on Top Of The Pops with ‘Stormy In The North, Karma In The South’. Personally financed by our management and myself, the single and self directed video shot way past all expectations. So much so in fact, that had we not been so broke from paying for everything ourselves, we could have made a killing at Ladbrokes if we’d been able to bet on its success.
After signing to GUT records the following two single fared less favourably and neither touched the sales of our own efforts. Still, that’s progress.
The biggest surprise tho’, came in the form of our ‘feelgood’ album ‘The Wildhearts Must Be Destroyed’, the first full length release in some six years. And of all the feelings associated with the execution of said recording, ‘good’ never entered the running. With location cut from Los Angeles, to Vancouver and eventually to commence in Skegness, armed with zero budget, things were not primed to be the most joyous of experiences. And in our album making history that really is saying something.
With Danny entering alcohol-rehab on the morning of his scheduled bass parts, the mood began to darken. And then the lights that had once been the inspiration for the reformation began to collectively become extinguished. Danny had been having a hard time in the months prior to recording. He was becoming less interested in rehearsing, sometimes not turning up at all, and the shows were suffering as a result of lack of band morale. This lack of morale was not entirely down to Danny of course, but it was becoming increasingly clear that his interests were not in making The Wildhearts the best band it could possibly be.
Which was the whole point of getting back together in the first place.
From what we hear, the stint in alcohol rehab hasn’t been entirely successful, but for the purpose of the recording sessions it was imperative to stick with the budget, this meant the schedule had to be adhered to – to the day. No one could possibly learn the bass parts in a morning, so I was roped in to play.
So, apart from the original producer backing out at the last minute, leaving me with the job of production (again, necessity and time), I’m now the Bass player!
The album began as an intended collective of songs from all members. I had a bunch of new songs I was dying to try out, and come demo-day I was eager to hear the fruits of the lads labour.
Of which there was one, the CJ penned “Out From The Inside”.
Being producer, arranger and main singer / songwriter (I really had hoped to ideally sing about HALF of this album) meant that I was away from my family the whole time the album was being recorded, with no money coming in, and a family relying on my financial input and emotional involvement. And stress began to kick in.
Stress turned into frustration, and frustration turned into panic.
Not the best time to break the routine to tour the UK with Amen, I’m sure you will agree. A fantastic idea at any other time of the century, but not necessarily at this time. Still, contracts are contracts, and from the studio to the road we reluctantly went.
On looking for a suitable stand-in to replace the ailing Danny, the only guy that was even close to filling the shoes was Random Jon Poole.
It is important to know that at NO time was it planned to replace Danny with Jon, or anyone else for that matter. We just needed a bassist that was match fit and able to complete the tour.
Then something really disturbing happened. Some of the fans began turning against the band for the first time in our mixed up, replacement filled history. And for the first time I was forced to take back the statement I had always stood by.
Our fans are the greatest fans in the world.
Now I would have to get used to saying that most of our fans are the greatest fans in the world, I’d marry them in an instant, but some of them are the kind of fucking arseholes that I would personally like to kick repeatedly in the mouth.
The insults aimed at Jon, for no more heinous a crime than ensuring that the tour went ahead, that fans were not let down and the band were not sued, were nothing short of disgraceful.
Accusations of ‘trying too hard on stage’ (!) and ‘not being Danny’ (?) neither phased the guy, nor put him off his stride in completing the job that he’d accepted gracefully. Proving that his balls are a damn sight larger than those of the hidden little shits that would hurl insults at a guy trying his best in an amazingly difficult situation.
Tour over and directly back into the studio without time to unpack a bag, the toll was finally becoming evident, resulting in a stint in hospital for your truly. Stress related nervous breakdown, or just a need to escape the growing negativity? Whatever… I fell. Mentally and physically.
With the album in the bag, all that was left for me to do was mix the damn thing, then recover and wait for the responses to the painful process that was the new album.
And what a response.
Most, thankfully, accepted the new songs, appreciated that things have to move on, and that change in anything (and indeed everything) is inevitable, as well as essential. Most welcomed the new direction taken as something that would stand proudly alongside future Wildhearts albums as a refreshing oddity. More pop fused, with the euphoria that is fatherhood taking centre stage as the main inspiration for the songs. The album is a breezy, well crafted slice of Pop Rock. As daring, and radical a step in an age of Hardcore anger-fuelled Metal, proliferating the genre, as would be possible to make, without turning Reggae. Then came the accusations of ‘sell-out’!
I mean, isn’t selling out what people accuse you of when you willingly join in with the popular style of the times? When you copy the sound of the collective in order to facilitate easy commercial gain? Therefore, isn’t making a blatant Pop Rock album, in an age of screaming-agitated-testosterone-led frontmen screaming about the injustices of their childhood, the exact opposite of selling out?
People actually wanted us to split up, on the strength of one album!!
Maybe I’m just getting old, but I never wanted any of my favourite bands to quit, y’know? And I can’t say I loved every Stones, Ramones, Motorhead, David Bowie, Frank Zappa, Iggy, Kiss or Cheap Trick album ever recorded, but where would they be if their fans dropped them on the first album that didn’t rate as their favourite release?
Some of this minority, that would claim that the band had indeed ‘been destroyed’ by the latest offering, were actually people that I had personally talked out of committing suicide in the past. Talk about loyalty, or even standing by a pal when he’s down.
You faithless shits.
You know who you are, and you also know who you will not have in your team should the darkside once again invade and envelop your confused world.
I hope that we have lost this contingent of ‘fan’ for good. I honestly do.
2003? From death threats aimed at me by virtue of my stance on the Iraq War, to those that demanded I disband The Wildhearts because you didn’t like one fucking album, to accusations of ‘betraying’ Danny because we wanted him to take the music as seriously as we do (even though we left the bass player spot open, at the cost of making a video for ‘Top Of The World’ without a bassist, in order to allow him to come back to the fold, should he have decided to dedicate himself to the group in the manner needed to ensure at least a decent attempt at a break, in this most fucked up of businesses), to you, the very few, I single fingeredly salute you.
You have tried to break us and you have failed.
In fact you have succeeded in making us stronger, crowning Jon Poole as a hero, and Danny as a martyr (shame on you, you fucking fools, shouldn’t you have been helping instead?), pushing us to look to the US for new ground to show off our wares, resulting in gaining US management, a US tour and imminent US record company involvement.
Those with least to say say it the loudest. We heard you, and we wore the courage of our own conviction as armour. Nothing prepares you for an attack from your own, and nothing like it makes you more resolved and determined to prove your worth. You succeeded in making us proud of ourselves and not to merely rely on appreciation.
We will carry on, with a new album of more than 30 songs, recorded later this year.
We will do this for ourselves, and for the people that understand that movement comes from fucking well moving! Changing. Trying. Testing new ground. Attempting things that seem terrifying in the mind. Having the guts to fail and the courage to applaud someone else’s brave efforts, whatever the outcome.
2004 belongs to those that would not judge, lest they themselves be judged.
It belongs to the victor, the one that would stand alone and speak, in a sea of silence. Inspire movement in an age of apathy.
We cannot fail – because the only critic capable of thwarting our zest for life, for the unchartered and intensely difficult times ahead, is ourselves.
And we take NO shit!
God bless those of you that have stayed with us…
…and a parting fuck you to those that have jumped ship.
Yours,
this year and the next bunch to follow
Ginger
Acoustic Tour Post-poned – Ginger Broken Hand
By Kris | December 11, 2003
As reported earlier, the acoustic tour has had to be postponed till the new year; Ginger has sent a message explaining things.
“Dear all, the reason for cancellation of the acoustic tour is that I have broken my hand. Bollocks, ‘n’ all that, but the tickets will still be valid for the rescheduled dates. Sorry to anyone that has arranged travel for these shows, but a one handed acoustic show? I’m sure that would entertain very few people!”
Acoustic Tour Postponed
By Kris | December 9, 2003
Tour Update: the acoustic tour now been postponed and Ginger is hoping to reschedule the dates for January ’04. Contact the venue / booking agent you purchased tickets from for details of ticket validity at rescheduled dates / refunds.
Please accept our sincere apologies on Ginger’s behalf.
First Three Acoustic Dates Cancelled
By Kris | December 8, 2003
The first three dates of the acoustic tour (Wolverhampton, High Wycombe and Cambridge) have had to be cancelled as Ginger has a throat infection. We will hopefully have an update on when these dates will be rearranged soon.
Ginger Acoustic Dates – December ’03
By Kris | November 15, 2003
Ginger has announced a number of UK acoustic dates in the run-up to Christmas. The dates are as follows:
10/12/03: Wolverhampton – Civic Bar
11/12/03: High Wycombe – White Horse
12/12/03: Cambridge – Boat Race
13/12/03: Milton Keynes – Woughton Centre
14/12/03: Oxford – Zodiac
15/12/03: Bournemouth – Engine Rooms
16/12/03: Portsmouth – Wedgewood Rooms
17/12/03: London – Borderline