Welsh Band Sicknote Go From Strength To States

Unzipped - Sicknote

After a performing in front of a capacity crowd at the Globe in Cardiff, Welsh proto-punk band Sicknote will be releasing an album containing a live unedited recording of the event this Monday (6 February 2012). Despite having been together for a number of years and having played most of the major festivals including Glastonbury it looks like 2012 will be the year of Sicknote - with an American tour lined up for this summer.The new album ‘UNZIPPED’ with be available to download from today (Monday 6 February). In a move that is becoming increasing common in the industry, the album is available in two formats: A ‘Pay What You Want’ download from www.sicknote.tv and a limited edition CD (limited 1,000 copies) complete with cover artwork from www.tantrumshop.co.uk.

Tuan Duong, Head of Promotions at The Globe, Cardiff was initially wary about putting the band on at the venue. He told us:

“When I was approached by Jason from the Sicknote team to stage their ‘Phone in Sick Mega Party’ event, I was very concerned to how he would be able to pull in the 330+ crowd, taking into account that we only had just over 2 weeks to stage the concert.

“As soon as the announcement was made, we had a massive response flooding in from all the major Internet Channels, it created an Amazing Buzz! As this was the first time that I heard of Sicknote, I really didn't understand much about this crowd of party goers, I had heard 'fairy tales' about their wild reputation which turned out to be nonsense.”

He continued:

“To my delight, the crowd was absolutely peaceful and were just happy going party lovers! Some of them had a wonderful sense of fashion. Both Sicknote and the crowd, super-charged the cold January night at The Globe and produced an awesome night with an electrifying atmosphere.

“It was an amazing sight to watch, the crowd and the band merged as one entity, dancing to the rhythm of the powerful vibes and beats. It was a pleasure to have come into contact with Sicknote and to have such wonderful people gracing the dance floor of The Globe.”

Band member and man behind the bleeps Jason Flapsandwich explained:

“This album signifies the start of a 10 week break after 5 years of spreading the sickness all over Europe. The album is as close to a live show as you are going to get, totally unedited. A straight recording from The Globe in January and mixed and mastered by Jake Tilley at Butterhill studio.

“You get the screams of the crowd, all the mistakes, all the atmosphere... and you can sense the tension with the new drummer (who had never ever played with us before as our regular drummer (The Filth) phoned in sick last minute).

He added:

“The CD feels like a night out with us. We hope you enjoy and with the 'pay what you want' thing we imagine it will spread far and wide and bridge the gap until we come back in April at Freekwency Festival in Portugal.”

Shortly after the concert the band were contacted by American promoter Ceri Shaw and asked if the would be interested in playing the West Coast of America this summer.

Mr Shaw of Americymru said:

“AmeriCymru and the Meriwether Lewis Memorial Eisteddfod Foundation are pleased and proud to be welcoming Sicknote to the Great Northwest later this year.

“We are arranging a tour taking in the cities of Seattle, Portland and Eugene.

He continued:

“We are sure that Sicknote's radical and innovative sound and stage performances will be welcomed here. Portland is the home of legendary US punk band, The Dead Kennedys and Seattle was the epicentre of the 90's grunge phenomenon. We are hoping that the tour will coincide with this year’s West Coast Eisteddfod.”

 

Only Men Aloud announce a UK-wide Christmas Tour 2009

After a critically acclaimed sell out tour in April and May 2009, Only Men Aloud are back with a very special Christmas themed tour. The show will be a selection of festive Christmas repertoire plus a mixture of songs from the first and second albums (the second being called ‘Band of Brothers’ and released on the 12th October) plus a few firm favourites. Only Men Aloud was formed in 2000 by Tim Rhys-Evans and in 2008, entered what was to be the UK’s biggest choir competition to date, with choirs battling to become voted the best choir in the UK on BBC One’s hit Saturday night show Last Choir Standing. After battling through the rounds, OMA gave some incredible performances and after an all Welsh Final, were crowned the winners and the nation’s favourite choir. After winning Last Choir Standing, Only Men Aloud signed a five album, multi-million pound record deal with Universal Classics and Jazz, and joined Merlin Elite's management roster. The choir's top-twenty debut album was recorded over five days at AIR studios in London, and achieved gold status within the first week of sales and went on to sell over a quarter million albums within the UK. Tim’s primary aim was to encourage younger men to get involved with one of Wales’ oldest and best loved traditions, male voice singing. The group are unafraid to tackle music not normally associated with male voice choirs; their repertoire ranges from the 17th Century to the present day, and has included several world premieres in this time. This tour follows on from the hugely successful sold out debut tour for which they received standing ovations at every single show. The varied collection of repertoire plus the unique choreography lends to what is an extremely enjoyable night of entertainment. The choir appears regularly on network radio and television. Notable broadcasts include the Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium, Radio Three Choir of the Year from The Royal Festival Hall, and a performance on HMS Belfast for the BBC One New Years Eve broadcast. This year has seen two successful trips to the United States completed and a private performance for Prince Charles, Camilla and their guests at Buckingham Palace. Tickets are £29.50 / £26.00 / £20.00 Regional and £35.00 / £27.50 / £22.50 London Tickets go on general sale Friday 4th September @ 10:00am Available at www.gigsandtours.com 24 hr cc hotline 0871 2200 260 TOUR DATES December 1, 2009 - Glasgow December 3, 2009 - Lladudno December 5, 2009 - Cardiff December 6, 2009 - Norwich December 7, 2009 - Ipswich December 8, 2009 - Birmingham December 9, 2009 - Liverpool December 11, 2009 - Brighton December 14, 2009 - Manchester December 16, 2009 - Portsmouth December 17, 2009 - Bristol December 18, 2009 - Nottingham December 20, 2009 - London

A Year On From Winning ‘Last Choir Standing’ Only Men Aloud Release Their Second Album ‘Band Of Brothers’

What a difference a year makes! Only Men Aloud, the Welsh choir who won last summer’s BBC1 TV show Last Choir Standing, return this autumn with their second album. Band of Brothers will be released a year after the win, which gained them the title of “The Nation’s Favourite Choir” and launched them into a new realm.   The choir, made up of 20 young men from South Wales, have experienced a rollercoaster ride since winning the BBC1 prime time Saturday night show. Within hours of winning and following a vicious bidding war between major record labels, Only Men Aloud signed a multi-million pound, five-album deal with Universal Music. The record deal, the largest ever for a choir by quite some margin, was signed at Wales’ iconic Millennium Stadium exactly a year to the week before their second album launch. Their first album achieved gold status within a week and went on to sell over a quarter of a million copies. In addition to their recording deal, Only Men Aloud signed to a world class management team who boast a roster including Denise Van Outen, Jodie Kidd, Jay Kay, Vanessa-Mae and Louise Redknapp. Their next step was to take on the US, and they were immediately snapped up by CAA (Creative Artists Agency), the agency behind David Beckham. They have now performed at several huge venues across the US on two separate tours and are scheduled to be back in the USA in early 2010 for a lengthy tour.  Back in Britain, the choir completed a critically acclaimed and sold out UK tour including their hometown Cardiff Arena, and also had a personal invitation from Prince Charles to perform for Camilla, Prince Charles and their guests at a private function in Buckingham Palace. The choir have attracted a number of high-profile and varied collaborations such as Josh Groban and Russell Watson plus home-grown Welsh talents Bonnie Tyler, Rhydian Roberts, Bryn Terfel, Aled Jones and Katherine Jenkins. OMA now return with their second album Band of Brothers, in which they present interpretations of modern classics such as ‘Somebody to Love’, performed with Kerry Ellis who hails from the Queen musical ‘We Will Rock You’. The choir also go back to their Welsh roots, with traditional anthems such as ‘Land of Our Fathers’ and ‘Blaenwern’. Demonstrating the choir’s eclectic background and tastes, from opera through to rock songs, they are all truly great tunes despite being from varied sources. Tim Rhys-Evans, MD of OMA, said of the new album, “From the beginning I wanted this to represent the wide range of repertoire. The arrangements have a filmic feel. I wanted it to be the kind of album that, if you were driving through a huge, open landscape, you would play on your car stereo. It’s fab and dandy – go buy a copy”. Only Men Aloud Biography Only Men Aloud were formed in January 2000 by Choir Master and Music Director Tim Rhys-Evans to inject some new blood into the Male Welsh Choir tradition. The choir have had regular slots on BBC Radio 4 and also Songs of Praise and in 2003 won the male choir category in the inaugural year of S4Cs Côr Cymru. Following on from this, the choir were chosen to perform on three separate occasions during the opening of the Wales Millennium Centre. They performed in the Opening Ceremony, Royal Gala, and also sang in the pre opening banquet honouring various eminent Welsh figures including Bryn Terfel, Sian Phillips and Shirley Bassey. In 2008 Only Men Aloud entered what was to be the UK’s biggest choir competition to date, with UK choirs battling to become voted the best choir in the UK on BBC1’s hit Saturday night show ‘Last Choir Standing’. After battling through the rounds, OMA gave some incredible performances and after an all Welsh Final, were crowned the winners and the Nations favourite choir. The choir signed a multi-album record deal with Universal Music and their debut album was released in November 2008, which has sold over a quarter of a million records. OMA have had an extremely busy year with international releases of their debut album plus a full UK sell-out tour, including Cardiff International Arena. This year also sees the choir record and release their second album with Universal Music. Only Men Aloud have also just returned from their second trip to the USA. Earlier this year the choir were personally invited by the Welsh Assembly to perform as part of Wales Week USA. The choir were invited to perform in front of the First Minister of Wales and the British Ambassador at the British Embassy in Washington DC. The event promoted Wales as the featured Country in this year’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which has seen Only Men Aloud return to the States in June and July of this year. Their time in the States has also included performances in New York as well as several TV and Radio appearances, including major American television channel CBS. For more information visit www.onlymenaloud.com