Katatonia new album ‘Night Is The New Day’ is released today in the UK.

It was recorded throughout July 2009 & was co-produced, engineered and mixed by David Castillo. Recording was divided between Studio Mega (for drums) and Ghost Ward Studios, where most recording took place & which provided a dose of inspiration from the darker corners of life with it’s choice of location, as Anders describes:

“Broken glass, blood on the walls at the front door to the building and threatening messages written on the elevator – Even excrement and urine on the floor in the basement that makes you wonder if the caretaker is a serial killer himself”

Mastering was completed at Fascination Street Studios (where ‘The Great Cold Distance’ was recorded) with Jens Bogren.

A continuation of the heaviness, depth & atmosphere of their previous album, ‘Night Is the New Day’ is also a more multi-dimensional effort – waltzing between prog moments, doom, folk & the classic melodic anthems that are the staple of Katatonia’s uncompromising sound, completed by the haunting tones of Jonas Renkse’s vocal journeys of urban & emotional decay.

‘Night is the New Day’ is Katatonia’s eighth studio album. It was recorded throughout July 2009 & was co-produced, engineered and mixed by David Castillo. Recording was divided between Studio Mega (for drums) and Ghost Ward Studios, where most recording took place & which provided a dose of inspiration from the darker corners of life with it’s choice of location, as Anders describes: “Broken glass, blood on the walls at the front door to the building and threatening messages written on the elevator – Even excrement and urine on the floor in the basement that makes you wonder if the caretaker is a serial killer himself”

he most ferocious roots guitarist from the UK since The Yardbirds, 22-year-old Isle of Man born Davy Knowles returns to the UK with his band Back Door Slam and a brand new album “Coming Up For Air” produced by Grammy Award-winning guitarist Peter Frampton and mixed by Bob Clearmountain (Bruce Springsteen, The Who and Paul McCartney). Davy Knowles has spent the last two years on a US blues pilgrimage wowing audiences in every state, even giving guitar legend Jeff Beck a run for his money, having just finished a support tour with him. He has rubbed shoulders with many other guitar greats, opening for the likes of The Who, Kid Rock, Chickenfoot, Joe Bonamassa, Lynyrd Skynrd, Buddy Guy, Eric Burdon and George Thorogood.

Speed Caravan started performing as a trio: Haddab, with bass player and long-time friend Pascal ‘Pasco’ Teillet; and electronic beat mistress and former Ekova member, Hermione Frank. Word of mouth spread, as audiences marvelled at Haddab’s flamboyant, frenetic style (not for nothing has he been called the Hendrix of the oud); at the way Pasco’s bass underlined the oud’s arabesques; at the way Frank grooved at her computer. Later the trio were joined by deft percussion skills and throaty vocals of Moroccan-born Mohamed ‘Simo’ Bouamar, who kept the vibe firmly in the East.

This week The Voluntary Butler Scheme debut album ‘The Voluntary Butler Scheme At Breakfast, Dinner, Tea’ will be stream as album exclusive on My Space – so what are you waiting for www.myspace.com/thevoluntarybutlerscheme.

InMe return with their fourth album, ‘Herald Moth’ this August on Graphite Records. An album that reveals a band who have matured and shaken off the early ‘emo’ trappings of their 2003 debut.

First single from Herald Moth, ‘Single Of The Weak’, is a real hybrid of sounds from early ska rhythms to metal, whilst other tracks ‘All Terrain Vehicle’ reveals Dave McPherson’s vocals at the top of his game, and similarly ‘The Art of Moderation’ and ‘Happy to Disappoint You’ reflects his under rating as a guitarist for the more technical progressive side. Whilst ‘Nova Armada’ just about encapsulates everything the band is currently about.

“We wanted to create lots of technical layers with an edge; to heavy, melodic tunes,” opens lead vocal/guitarist Dave McPherson. “With Daydream Anonymous we established a more mature sound and pushed our abilities as musicians. Now we’ve really stepped that up. The new album is darker, more epic and grander than we’ve ever been.”

Lyrically the album deals with the great hardships McPherson has had to come to terms with.

“I’ve had a particularly tough couple of years. Not to say I feel sorry for myself but things haven’t been particularly easy. Part of that was I gave in too much, became too weak and let everything get on top of me. The main theme throughout ‘Herald Moth’ is adversity really. It gave me a therapeutic outlet to spit out all the darker, negative things within me to become stronger at the end of it.”

In July 2006, bassist Joe Morgan quit the band and was replaced by McPherson’s brother Greg and in 2007 they went on to agree a new deal with Graphite Records for the release of ‘Daydream Anonymous’; the band’s most critically acclaimed album to date. In the Autumn of 2008, second guitarist Ben Konstantinovic joined.

“We’d wanted a 2nd guitarist for a long time,” Dave explains. “But the right guy never came along.”

Ben began playing on McPherson’s regular acoustic nights around the UK. Over time it became clear he was more than the man for the job. “He completely blew everyone away,” confirms Dave. “He has a maths degree and is a qualified pilot too!”

INME never limit themselves & in their 13 years of existence have constantly evolved to become the 4 man machine they are today. Their passionate and innovative attitude towards creating music has led to the creation of their proudest opus, ‘Herald Moth’ and to accompany this they will be heading out on a full UK tour in September.

September
16 The Royal, Derby
17 Newcastle Academy 2, Newcastle
18 53 Degrees, Preston
19 The Cockpit, Leeds
21 ABC2, Glasgow
22 Manchester Academy 3, Manchester
23 Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
24 The Garage, London
25 Chinnerys, Southend
26 The Harlequin, Redhill*
27 Concorde 2, Brighton*
28 Oxford Academy 2, Oxford
30 Talking Heads, Southampton

October
1 Orange Box, Yeovil
2 TJ’s, Newport
3 Hobbits, Western
4 The Cavern, Exeter
*supporting We Are The Ocean

Tickets are on sale now at Aloud

Paul Steel returns this summer with a new album ‘Moon Rock’ and an animated movie version of his of critically acclaimed debut album “April & I”.

After releasing his debut album as a limited edition in 2007 he signed to Polydor where he recorded his second album “Moon Rock” with Tony Hoffer in LA. After a number of live dates at Fuji Rock and V along with supports with Sean Ono Lennon, The Bee’s, Electric Soft Parade, Amy Winehouse, Ed Harcourt, and Cornelius Paul then parted with Polydor to go it alone.

With his newfound freedom Paul is experiencing an Indian summer and will release his new album, “Moon Rock” along with an animated movie for “April & I” on July 20th.
“Moon Rock” is brimming with fizzy, contemporary pop songs that is by turns charming, magnetic, whimsical and (without being all ‘oh-look-at-me-I’m-hilarious’) extremely funny. “There are more conventional songs in the new album,” Paul says, “but it’s still not your standard rock stuff. I tried to make sure I was using influences without exploiting them.”

Standout tracks include “In A Coma”, written by Paul in a San Diego Zoo about a person who heroically saves a girl from being hit by a taxi. “It’s all about the frustration of being in a coma while the girl you saved is by your bedside falling in love with you, but you can’t do anything with it because you’re all asleep and shit.” Elsewhere there’s the earthy and intense “The Way You Are”, and the psychedelic, Fantasia-influenced “Moon Rock”. “Emo Joe” is another quite good one. “It’s a song about the cult, almost religious aspect of the emo kids where everyone lives to a code,” Paul says. He adds – as only a perennially happy man can – “I don’t even know what emo is”.

www.myspace.com/paulsteel

June marks the release of ‘Dead Man’s Suit’ the debut long-player from South Devon’s finest, Jon Allen. Sitting comfortably with contemporaries such as Ryan Adams, Jose Gonzales and Damien Rice, whilst being unmistakeably evocative of the folk-rock scene of the late 60s/ early 70s.

A confident performer – opening for the likes of Mark Knopfler, Emmylou Harris, KT Tunstall, Jose Gonzalez and Damien Rice has not fazed him – wowing audiences in the process in venues from the miniscule 12 Bar all the way up to Wembley Arena.

The critically acclaimed first single ‘Going Home’, championed by Radio 1’s Jo Whiley, featured on the worldwide Land Rover TV commercial in 2008 achieving a respectable 20,000 downloads from Jon’s website off the back of the advert. The proceeds gave Jon the freedom to self-fund the recording of his album and media campaign. This track was also made record of the week by Absolute Radios drive time host, Geoff Lloyd.

‘Dead Mans Suit’ shows an eclectic range of influences, from early Rod Stewart and the Faces to the legendary and lamented John Martyn in his ‘Solid Air’ era. Jon echoes Martyns spirit and reflectiveness and at the same time shows that he knows how to pen a good hook

The album kicks off with ‘Dead Man’s Suit’, released June 22nd which despite the name is an uplifting melodic tune in which Rod Argent (Zombies)-style organ plays a significant role throughout the song. This contrasts with the soulful ballad ‘In Your Light’, which has achieved significant praise at BBC Radio 2, riding high on the A list, having been championed by the likes of Ken Bruce, Johnnie Walker, Dermot O’leary and Bob Harris, with a session booked with Bob for May 30th.

Other songs like ‘Take Me To The Heart’ subtly echo a James Taylor-esque, West Coast 70s singer-songwriter acoustic atmosphere, complementing the more groove- based bluesy rock numbers such as ‘Young Man Blues’, released June 22nd.

‘Dead Mans Suit’ is a testament to the art of quality songwriting – Jon studied at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts founded by Paul McCartney, who has praised Jon on his penmanship and offered up help in the form of writing sessions with the great man. That experience helped Jon find fans in the likes of songwriting heavyweights such as Guy Chambers. Singer James Morrison is also a fan, having found time off whilst touring to catch Jon at a show and Jools Holland who said Jon is “One of the most amazing voices I’ve heard this year, when I heard his track on the radio I had to Shazam it straightaway to find out who it was”.

Jon Allen has already achieved a lot in his short career and has been praised by some of the music industry’s great and good. Just like his growing audience, they’ve all seen the prospect of Jon as a long-term, career- sustaining artist, whose authentic songs will not go out of fashion.

Bradford’s finest White Light Parade kick off 2009 with details of their eagerly anticipated debut album ‘House Of Commons’ released through Split Records on 18th May. The album will be preceded by the band’s bright and beautiful single ‘Wake Up’ – a sunny blast of optimism that should blow away the winter-y cobwebs – on May 4th 2009.

Recorded in Devon with Pete Miles (fast rising producer who recently worked on the King Blues’ debut album ‘Save The World, Get The Girl’) ‘House Of Commons’ is the sort of album you can easily see uniting a small army of believers. Encompassing the snarling three-chord anger of the Pistols, the anthemic choruses of Oasis and the vintage melodies of The Kinks, White Light Parade form their urban disillusionment into perfectly crafted catchy rock tunes.

The past year has seen White Light Parade speed steadily towards the mainstream. Their debut single ‘Wait For The Weekend’ sauntered onto XFM playlists, and scored them support slots with the likes of The View and The Enemy. The follow-up single ‘Turning All The Lights Down’, crashed into the indie Top 10 following plays from Radio 1’s Huw Stephens and out of the blue, the band were contacted over MySpace by Rockstar Games, who signed the track’s rowdy, Clash-tinged B-side ‘Riot In The City’ up for the soundtrack to the mega-selling Grand Theft Auto IV.

You can catch the band’s phenomenal live show at one their forthcoming gigs.

MARCH
18 The Cockpit, Leeds w/Little Comets

APRIL
17 St George’s Hall, Bradford
21 The Fly, London
28 Dublin Castle, London

MAY
3 Live At Leeds, venue TBC
9 Wolves Little Civic, Wolverhampton
14 Water Rats, London
20 The Harley, Sheffield