Wild Winter 10 year anniversary gigs

I'm not usually a fan of the looming irritant that is the festive period, however when it involves gigs (like the Slow Club Xmas gigs I was lucky enough to be a part of way back) it lightens the load and this year there are gigs! Smoke Fairies Xmas gigs. 

Firestations have been added to the Jill Lorean gig at the Old Library which is cool, Jill's new album is incredible, you should listen to it right now, and come along to the gigs.

And here's a playlist of some hot new tunes

Carried in Sound

Carried in Sound, the 6th (maybe the 8th?) album by Smoke Fairies was released in 17th November 2023. The album making process was very much a DIY aesthetic, they would phone me up every so often and say they'd worked on some tracks and would like me to come over to record some viola... and drink some ale. It was a beautiful thing to be involved with and the album made it to number 16 in the actual real charts! 

TOUR(S)!

 As ever, I've been incredibly slack at updating this blog. 

I forgot to mention that Firestations were supporting legendary New York musician come comic book artist come all-round genius Jeffrey Lewis at Bedford Esquires who was brilliant as ever and Bedford is so lucky to have such a fabulous venue in the Bedford Esquires, thanks to all at Esquires for being friendly, professional and all-round excellent people.

I've probably forgotten some other things too but I wanted to come here and mention two upcoming tours I'm playing, one of which is a tour split into manageable portions, certainly one way of prolonging a tour and there are fewer things worse than the end of  a tour; the passing of a pet rabbit maybe? you should come to some shows 'cos god knows how long any of us will be able to keep doing this stuff! We would appreciate you being there. 

///  FIRESTATIONS TICKETS   ///  SMOKE FAIRIES TICKETS  /// 

If you're looking for some other stuff to listen to, I'd recommend Sweeping Promises' new(ish) album, which is bursting full of energy and more hooks than a fisherman's bag. In a similar vein, but even more bonkers is Snooper's album, it makes you feel alive and even 6Music have picked up on it! Pale Blue Eyes's new album This House has also just landed and is unbelievably great.

See you on tour!

// Daniel McDonagh // Smoke Fairies

Daniel McDonagh's album is out today; the first recording session was at the tail end of my experience with long covid, a fun experience involving waking up every morning feeling like I'd been run over by a tank and feeling that way all day. I was a bit apprehensive about the session 'cos I thought I might just have to lie on the floor for the whole thing. It was fine though, and I think it actually helped. Give the album a listen.

Smoke Fairies release the latest track off their forthcoming EP, featuring some of my viola drones. Oh, and there's also a gig coming up at Omeara.

I also keep forgetting to share this playlist of stuff I'm currently listening to. Time happens, and time is feeling very unusual at the moment. #ToriesOut #ToriesOut #ToriesOut

Part Of It All

I can't remember if it was before or after the Greenhouse gig but at some point around then Kaf and Jess Smoke Fairies said they'd written a bunch of songs and would like me to put some viola on them. Part of It All is the first fruit from those recording sessions, and they were interesting sessions with Kaf and Jess recording everthing themselves through an SM58 microphone, embracing the limitations and carefully considering every note I played.

Looks like this is the first Smoke Fairies release I've played on for eight whole years; time is an absurd thing. There's a good, albeit bleak Stuff You Should Know Podcast epidsode about time, how your perception of time changes as you get older.

Anyway, give the song a spin.

Xmas Bleakness

Every year, xmas barges its way into our lives completely uninvited, derailing whatever shit you've got going on. Capitalism on overdrive. It's more horrifying than Halloween. The crushing inevitability of hearing 'those songs' again, the same bunch of tired, ubiquitous tunes, like a pair of socks with holes in you probably should have thrown away years ago. Then there's the panic and stress, it's such a difficult time for so many, and for what? Maybe it's time to reframe xmas?

On that note, I've compiled a bleak xmas playlist featuring the alternative delights of Smoke Fairies, The Sonics, Eels, The Wandering Step, The Handsome Family, Anita Bryant, The Fall, Billy Nomates, Au Reviour Simone, Holly Golightly, Viv Albertine, The Long Blondes, The Sinclairs, LCD Soundsystem, Andrew Bird, Frightened Rabbit, The Walkmen, Khruangbin, Six by Seven, PINS, Christopher Lee, Sparks... 

HAVE A LISTEN

MERRY XMAS

Firestations - Protection Spells

...from the Hash & Brew article:

With trademark intertwined vocals from Mike and Laura, it also features special guest Neil Walsh (Smoke Fairies, Videocean, Shattercones) on viola, as well as a rare, scorched-earth guitar solo (like a frustrated dad going epic in a guitar shop) from the band’s lead guitarist Martin (who is not a dad).

For fans of emotional alt-country - think Sparklehorse, John Cale, Wilco, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Neil Young, Herman Dune, Sharon Van Etten - albeit selectively filtered through refined (repressed) British sensibilities.

Neiltones

The playlist of me playing on songs that are available to listen to on Spotify has been updated, including a couple of new songs off the new Shattercones EP.

Neiltones

Smoke Fairies tour with Public Service Broadcasting.

BAD FRIDAY BBQ 2015

BAD FRIDAY IS BACK 

Smoke Fairies tour 2014

Tickets are now on sale here for the Smoke Fairies album tour! 

 

 

Smoke Fairies

Here it is, the first song from the new Smoke Fairies album, it's called Eclipse them All and the video contains epic eyelashes.

The album press release is definitely worth a read:

 “Smoke Fairies” is available to pre-order from the Full Time Hobby store now (FOR ONLY SIX ENGLISH POUNDS!)   Available on mini LP-style CD, 180g heavy-weight vinyl (with download code) and high quality digital download.

Smoke Fairies’ outstanding new album, the eponymously titled Smoke Fairies, shows the band in top form, combining their classic approach whilst exploring new forms of musical expression – but it is an album that they nearly didn’t make.

There was a moment after the release of Smoke Fairies’ last album (Blood Speaks, 2012) when Jessica Davies turned to musical partner Katherine Blamire and told her she was no longer sure whether Smoke Fairies should continue.

For Smoke Fairies the suggestion of not playing music together would potentially impact more than just their band – theirs was a friendship forged by music, by a shared ambition that had carried them from their schooldays and on to songwriting and performing together.

“We started considering what would we do if we didn’t do music,” recalls Davies, “and it was just a massive void.” Deciding that giving up on the band was “not an option,” Davies wrote a musical apology to Blamire that would become the stunning opening track of their new eponymously titled album, Smoke Fairies. “I just wanted to say sorry to her – sorry I scared you like that.”

In the six years since Smoke Fairies first entered a recording studio, they have made two critically acclaimed albums, supported on tours with Bryan Ferry, Richard Hawley and Laura Marling, and had a single released on Jack White’s Third Man Records; but for all the perceived glamour of a musical career, they were still sharing a house in Peckham and waiting for something to happen while they worked temp jobs around London.

But with the question now raised, Smoke Fairies were able to really take stock and reassess what the band truly meant to them. “We realised that this is our life,” says Davies. “And we just have to see it as this wonderful thing, every gig we get to play and every record we get to make – we’re just incredibly grateful for that.”

More than this, it allowed them to think about the type of album they wanted to make. They had earned a reputation for impressive live performances, for harmonies and intricate guitar playing, but what they now craved was something simpler and more direct. Blamire talks of secretly listening to pop music on the bus, trying to figure out “why it was popular, why it was good.” Davies tells how her own personal yardstick had become “anything with a drumbeat that made me dance around the kitchen.”

Smoke Fairies yearned for movement and forward momentum. They wanted to make an album that wasn’t simply recorded live, but rather presented songs that were pored over, puzzled-out, polished and produced. “We wanted to feel that we had dissected everything back to its basic bones,” avers Davies, “and then for every song to kind of shimmer.”

In 2013 Blamire and Davies took themselves to a remote recording studio in Kent with producer Kristofer Harris. “It was on a very old industrial estate,” says Davies. “It was a really eccentric area – it used to be a council office, now there’s a bubble car garage, a tattoo parlour and a granite workshop. It just physically felt so distant from anything to do with the music industry.”

It was there that they set about crafting their latest album, Smoke Fairies, calling on their bandmates and old touring friends such as drummer Andy Newmark (Sly and the Family Stone, Roxy Music, John Lennon) to help out. “It felt very warm,” says Davies. “These people really came together to encourage us, as if we had retreated into a world of only ourselves and the people who mattered.”

The distance and sense of introspection also allowed for a shift in their songwriting techniques. “We used to do a lot of harmonies,” says Blamire. “But this album gave us the opportunity to actually be two voices, rather than two voices as one entity; two people talking to each other as distinct characters. They’re the messages that we send to each other.”

Their lyrical style, too, has changed: “We scrapped lyrics right from the start if they were too flowery,” asserts Davies. “Unless the lyric really got to the point and said something, it got cut.” Blamire agrees: “As songwriters, I feel we’re really starting to sum things up properly, to nail them down. For me, it was a testament to how long we’ve been together that we could just say to each other ‘that’s shit.’ There really was no ego on this record.”

The result is a remarkable set of songs, notable not only for their strength and robustness, but also a sense of experimentation. The sheer liberation Blamire and Davies felt at using synths for the first time is evident in tracks such as the irresistible “Your Own Silent Movie” and the beautifully compelling “Drinks and Dancing”. Davies and Blamire’s sublime voices still stand to the fore, and tracks like “Want It Forever” are lined with a deliciously bluesy skuzzy-ness. This may not be the sort of album you ever expected Smoke Fairies to make, but it is an extraordinary record – bracing, sensual and defiant – and one that promises an exciting musical future.

Blamire and Davies see the track “Hope Is Religion” as the song that best sums up their experiences of the past few years and their continued devotion to making music. “It’s one that we wrote together,” affirms Davies. “It’s about writing songs with someone, putting those ideas out into the open and sharing them with somebody; but it’s also about how with music you’re always hoping for more – that this will happen or that will happen. For us it felt as if music had become our religion, we believed in it without any evidence that we’d actually be able to make any money or be successful. I guess that sums up the situation we were in; but we realised we had no other option but to keep on believing.”

An analogue man in a digital world.

I haven't posted on here for an absolute age so I thought it might be nice to do a little 2013 round up. It's mainly a self serving post to remind myself what I've done as my memory is dreadful and t to try and convince myself that I haven't completely wasted another year.

Back in July, this nice chap approached me after a Smoke Fairies show in Chichester and said "you play to serve the song not your own ego". I'm guessing I'd be fired if I started acting like I was in Towers of London but I do hope that sentiment is at least slightly accurate. In the autumn Smoke Fairies released a double album entitled Ghosts which is effectively a rarities and B-sides record, if you're a details person there's some more stuff about it here. Thankfully they decided to tour the album and what a wonderful little tour it was. The tour video is well worth a look, it was created entirely from stills taken by Ani (the excellent drummer in support band Rasputina - great sharing a stage with them )

I cant say much about the brand new Smoke Fairies album other than it is finished, a new producer was involved, it sounds amazing and I'm all excited about it. The big reveal will be soon.

Other 2013 gig highlights include a couple of shows with performance art/ theatre troupe Tangled Feet - Rammstein would have approved of the ludicrously great pyrotechnics involved in this show, this photo albeit impressive doesn't quite capture the magnitude, that ball at the top for example, at one point it spins whilst fireworks spurt out and a lady is inside doing a hand stand. I'm somewhere in the middle of all that scaffolding with my viola.

I also had the pleasure of playing the Royal Festival Hall again, not once but twice with Viv Albertine in support of Siouxsie's Meltdown show (Siouxsie even played Kaleidoscope in full so it was like a Don't Look Back show but curated by Yoko instead of ATP) It's a magnificent place to play though, it makes The Forum look like a dustbin. Viv has written an autobiography which is out this year, I haven't read it yet but I'm going to recommend it anyway 'cos she has enough witty anecdotes to feed every Best Man's speech forever and a day so it's bound to be a blast. You can pre-order it here if you wish. 

I've also put on some shows myself mainly with the fine folk at music webzine SoundsXP, most notably  Kelley Deal's new(ish) project R.Ring.  Laura J Martin is headlining our next show which takes place at the Sebright Arms on 16th January and it should be a great show. Advance tickets are available here. We'll also be doing one of those legendary Good Bad Friday all-day gig BBQ things at the Windmill again this year.

Other people I've performed and recorded with in 2013 include Matthew and the Atlas, Napoleon IIIrd, Fuzzy Lights, CA Smith, Fryars, Charles Watson and Fyfe Dangerfield and the loquaciously named Until the Bird of the Soul Takes Flight from the Cage of the Body...  most if not all have some very tasty albums to look forward to in 2014.

Also to look forward to in 2014 is the new album by Left With Pictures and rather excitingly we managed to get Richard Formby in the producer's chair. It'll be released on Organ Grinder records later in the year. We might even see a new album by The Monroe Transfer on Organ Grinder this year if the beast ever gets finished; in the meantime you might like to check out head Transfer Nick's other activities, he's a very busy chap.

Turns out that 2013 was actually 1973.

...and I liked bananas. 

Here's to 2014 being a goodun for all.

The Cult of the cover version

You know that Cult song She Sells Sanctuary? well, Smoke Fairies have done a version; give it a whirl:


Who'd 'a thought that song needed some massive great honking voila eh?

How's my driving?

Terrible. I haven't driven in over 10 years and the last time I did I wrote off an old Ford Fiesta whilst aptly listening to Blow Out by Radiohead. I don't remember the registration number of that car but I do remember the song I was listening to when I crashed it.

It's a bit of a blessing I don't drive because I won't have to share the epic amount of driving on the Smoke Fairies tour which starts tomorrow. (EDIT: it actually started yesterday but Blogger had gone the same way as a failed Grand National horse. It's back now but I've lost all the nice links, photos and stuff which is a shame - bad Google)

If you have a glance at the last three dates in particular you'll see why I'm quite pleased I'm not driving.

May 13 - Brighton

May 14 - Clitheroe

May 15 - Hebden Bridge

May 16 - Edinburgh

May 18 - York

May 19 - Liverpool

May 20 - London

May 22 - Cardiff

May 23 - Rochester

May 24 - Southampton

May 26 - Barcelona

May 28 - Newcastle

Those last three dates are 2200 miles alone, so yeah, I'll be trying to keep the driver(s) awake so I'll probably blast out the incredible new Tune-Yards album.

My preposterous interview with Sea of Bees

I interviewed Julie in a luxurious Travelodge room whilst on tour with Smoke Fairies. It's fair to say we were both a little inebriated at the time. Have a listen:

  Sea of Bees interview by hells-belles

Smoke Fairies on XFM

A week or so ago we popped into the XFM studios in Leicester Square to record a session for John Kennedy's Xposure show. There was something quite pleasing surreal about lugging massive amps and drums through one of London's biggest tourist traps.

We played Storm Song, Devil In My Mind, Summer Fades and Killing Joke's Requiem. It was aired last night and you can listen back to it here  I wonder if it's the first time they've ever had a viola solo on XFM?

A Tour In Photos

This post should have happened weeks ago but various dilapidated obstacles got in the way.

Many political manifestos have included the Three 'E's but you only need to attach two 'E's to the Smoke Fairies' UK tour and in this case it isn't the same word lazily repeated three times for dramatic effect. The two words are 'exceded expectations'; one thing you're unlikely to get from a political party. To sell out most venues on a debut headline tour in the desolate month of January is heartwarming and encouraging stuff.

Enough with the rubbish, tenuously linked E words; here is the tour in photos:

 Kaf and Jess doing their 'witch house' poses for NME

 Manager extraordinaire Matt utilising his travel printer

Lights

 OUCH!

 Frequenting haunted pubs

 How many candles? 

 Two peas in a pod

 an angel amongst Fairies 

 How many pedals does one viola player need? 

 The Smithereens

 Marc and Mark proudly in place at BBC Manchester where we went for a session on Marc Riley's show. Marc was refreshingly fanatical about everything as per usual which reminded me how wonderful it is to have him on our airwaves. I also happened to meet Gruff Rhys who's one of my favourite song writers as he was doing a session in the studio next door.

Part of the NME review of the Brighton show. I know I'm a tall chap and probably even a 'cello would look like a violin under my chin but it's not, it's a viola. Everyone called me Frank after that came out, which I rather liked!

 

 Piccadilly records

 would you like a Lionel with your hat? 

 one of the more pleasant dressing room graffiti appearances.

 at times the anticipation is unbearable.

as blurry as our heads the next morning

 Rob is overwhelmed by the tour malaise but as per usual Jules Sea of Bees has such a blazing supply of enthusiasm that it makes you feel dead inside in comparison.

 sound will be checked 

One of the many pleasingly non-travelodges we stayed in. Thanks Mr Tour Manager. Sorry guests for waking you up at silly o'clock in the morning by setting off the fire alarm. 

 Kris finds a special poster tucked away.

 How many stairs?

 

Blasts from the past

 at Bristol Fleece

Sea of Bees at Bush Hall. Not strictly part of our tour but they kept touring long after we'd returned to normality and overcome the longing to be back on tour.... 

...and in May we'll be doing it all again but in a slightly different order. Superb. Keep an eye on the Songkick page for details.

Smoke Fairies tour diary part 2

We arrived at The Sage last night to be greeted at load-in by a plethora of helpful chaps that seemingly love putting things on trolleys, which made the arduous daily task of carrying a million and one things into the venue easy as pie. Is pie easy? I guess so. It's such a pleasingly professional venue. We've played The Sage before but in the larger room supporting Richard Hawley, I remember someone saying to us at the time that they've had support acts here before who've gone on to headline the smaller room and it's heartening to actually make the transition. What's more, we very nearly sold out the 400 capacity venue. In Gateshead. In January; surely the quietest of months for gigs. Ridiculous.

The previous night we played the Lancaster Library which seemed like an odd place to house a live gig considering the usual mode of conduct in a library is to be as quiet as humanly possible, but it turned out to be a marvellous setting with book cases framing the audience. The show was performed in the Sci-Fi and Fantasy section and the sound desk was aptly in the Audio Book section.

We had a day off in Lancaster the day before the library show and were planning on having a nice meal for my birthday, followed by the inevitable booze fest, after the long drive from Nottingham. We turned up at this gastro pub and I was lead into this dark room and was hit by a roar of "surprise" by friends and family. It was flabbergasting, completely unexpected and bizarrely disorientating having all these people I've known for years in this room in Lancaster. It was such a lovely surprise. Fun times.


The shows on the 19th and 20th were at Glee. Luba in Birmingham and Nottingham respectively. The Birmingham show ended in disaster when drummer Rob fell down a hole when we were loading out resulting in a tenis ball sized swollen ankle and he spent the rest of the evening with buckets full of ice round his ankle. The Nottingham show would have proved an impossibility had it not been for copious amounts of painkillers a foot strap and Rob's unflappable demeanour of "it'll be fine". If it had happened to me I'd be constantly crying like a little boy who's just witnessed his new bike being crushed by a freak incident with a steam roller.

The show must go on, and it has. Hat's off to Rob.