Dear friends,
Next in the diary is the double bill of Fragments of Lucia at Smock Alley Theatre on June 16th as part of the Bloomsday festival. There will be a matinee at 4PM and an evening show at 8PM. Some tickets are still available for both but hurry as they will be snapped up. I’m really looking forward to revisiting this music for what will be the only time this year.
For those not in Dublin or who can’t make it to the shows, I will be doing a live rehearsal on my Patreon page on June 5th. It'll be a pretty informal run through, I may stop and start to work on specific passages, repeat phrases and play at various tempi so it'll be a window into what a rehearsal process looks like for one of these shows. You can ask me questions in the comments which I'll answer during the inevitable tuning breaks!
Recent posts on Patreon include a 30 minute video on alternate tunings, a behind the scenes vlog about the new music I’m working on, a video of my complete set from Other Voices, 2004, interviews with Shaun Davey and Gemma Hayes as well as lots of unreleased tracks and cover versions from the vault. You can subscribe for 5 Euro per month here.
Upcoming album releases - The Hedge Schools, “At the End of a Winding Day,” vinyl reissue which I remastered in 24 Bit 96kHz is finally coming out on June 7th after the demise of Dublin Vinyl caused a lot of heartache for everyone. The excellent Music Zone in Cork (I did a memorable in-store with them for the launch of The Easter Vigil) have stepped in to save the day and you can buy it from them here. I’ve had a test pressing and it sounds exquisite.
Also, on July 5th, the new a lazarus soul record, “No Flowers Grow in Cement Gardens,” comes out. Can’t wait for you all to hear it! We play Vicar Street, no less, on Saturday October 26th. Tickets here. Our new single “Black Maria,” has just come out. Play it loud!
The tenspeedracer reissues continue apace with the recent releases of the Girls & Magazines EP and the Listen to Bits single and B-Sides. I was only a member of that band from 2000 - 2004 (from Eskimo Beach Boy to 10SR) and yet I still get asked about it regularly in interviews. It’s a funny one, really. This was my favourite period, there is a lightness and musicality that I felt was lost on 10SR. Dermot, who has been tirelessly working the publishing side of the reissues surprised us all with a video of the band live which none of us knew existed playing Stitched Up & Blue, one of my songs which was a B-Side of Listen to Bits (a song I wrote about my days in Sunbear.) The song was written in literally a couple of hours in Wexford having just returned, pretty worn out from what they call a "dartboard tour" of the UK. It seemed like we'd been endlessly and aimlessly driving up and down the motorways of England, Scotland and Wales for weeks without end. I remember at one point, to save money, with no gigs on the books, we were booked into a Travelodge in an industrial estate outside Dundee for five days, living on snacks from a vending machine in the lobby and where, to pass the time, we would spend our days sitting in the car park, counting the helicopters flying back and forth from the North Sea oil rigs. Mind-numbing and depressing stuff!
But what this video reminds me of is how much we just loved playing live and how that hour and a half every night (or most nights) somehow made up for all the bullshit, fatigue and whatever neuroses we were collectively and individually going through at any given time. We would just fall out of that van onto the stage and give it everything, every night.
I seem to be doing a lot of top secret projects lately - just finished mixing and mastering a top secret tenspeedracer project (never thought I’d say that again!) and I was thrilled to start working on a very special album, a project which is very close to my heart with a revolving cast of incredible musicians that I’m absolutely sworn to secrecy about. I promise, you’ll be the first to know as soon as I can tell you.
While on the subject of secrets, something totally incredible, an enormous thrill and something that I never thought could happen is lined up for Culture Night in September. This is going to be big. I can’t quite believe it. Stay tuned.
Sorry about all the secrecy but sometimes there are a lot of moving parts and you can’t spook the horses! Hope to see lots of you on the 16th or if not, perhaps online on the 5th.
More to come,
Joe
Flying into Dublin for the matinee on the 16th. Bought another ticket for a friend 😀 I'm a big supporter of live music, really looking forward to it. Hope there's a few CDs for sale.