Here’s the first taste from the upcoming album An Ear To The Earth. It’s a calypso fuelled panic attack. A percussion driven nervous breakdown. Limbo as you sip a tequila and down Valium. An Ear To The Earth will be out real soon……
Produced by Jamie Hutchings. Mixed By Jamie Hutchings and Chris Colquhoun. Out on Laughing Outlaw Records April 5.
Here’s a first look at the album art for my latest recording which will be out on Laughing Outlaw Records on April 5th. The album is entitled An Ear To The Earth and contains 10 brand new tracks. Below you’ll find the track listing and credits – for any of you who’ve caught a show in the last year or so – well, you may recognise a few of the titles.
Side One
Everything I Need
Nowhere At All
Madeleine
Where Will I Be?
I Don’t Know What’s Become Of Her
Side Two
Killer Anxiety
Last Card
Four Winds
Bone Orchard
O, Dreamtime Blues
Produced by Jamie Hutchings
Engineered by Chris Colquhoun
Mixed by Chris Colquhoun and Jamie Hutchings
This long player was recorded direct to reel-to-reel tape, live at a small guesthouse at Avalon. (Thanks to the Mort family for the use of their space). Tape transfer was accomplished at Linear Recording.
The Players:
Mark Moldre: Vocals, Acoustic Guitars, Nylon String Guitar, Banjo, Melodica, Stomps, Claps
Jamie Hutchings: Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Percussion, Backing Vocals, Stomps, Claps
Scott Hutchings: Drums, Percussion, Stomps, Group Vocals, Claps
Reuben Wills: Double Bass, Group Vocals, Musical Saw, Stomps, Claps
Adam Lang: Banjo, Lap Slide, Pedal Steel, Stomps, Claps
Lee Hutchings: Clarinet
Jochen Gutsch: Trumpet
Gregory Bennett: Tuba, Trombone
All songs written by Mark Moldre except
I Don’t Know What’s Become Of Her (Moldre/J. Hutchings)
Arrangement assistance by Jamie Hutchings
Well folks, once again I have found a musical home.
As most of you likely realise, sometimes we all feel the need sometimes to return back to the place where everything began. Somewhere that feels comfortable, where the smiles are reassuring and the smells are familiar. A place where you can put your feet up and not be scolded. A place where you’re surrounded by friends, encouraging banter and off in the kitchen there is always an open fire burning and a pot of soup on the stove. The kind of home where you can stand around an old, out of tune upright piano ’til late at night and harmonise to Bing Crosby tunes with a glass of gin pressed in your hand. Where is that homely musical haven for me? I’m glad you asked.
As it turns out it’s the place where I started. Stuart Coupe at Laughing Outlaw Records was the first person to show some musical faith in me when he signed a pretty naive and wet behind the ears 4 piece band that I was involved in called Hitchcock’s Regret, way back somewhere in the vicinity of 1999-2000. We released a couple of albums on Laughing Outlaw and left after recording our 3rd (and last) – releasing endless_intermission on Spacejunk. A label run by our producer at the time, Tim Powles (drummer/producer for The Church).
Now, years later, here I stand (actually, here I sit) ready to release solo album number 2 into the ether and find myself lingering at the very gates where the first symphonious seed was planted. So it is with no further ado that I’d like to announce that my latest 10 track long player will be released on April 5th on Laughing Outlaw Records and Inertia distribution. Here’s hoping that you, dear reader, will join me for the ride. Loads more music/videos/details coming very soon…..
Time for a brief update before New Year fever sets in.
Firstly my new album has been mastered and I have the final copy in hand. Lots of news to come….more on that real soon.
In the meantime I’ll be playing one last show before 2012 comes to a grinding halt – a festival on the Central Coast called The Reunion on Saturday December 22nd at The Entrance Leagues Club. This will feature loads of bands from the Coast’s musical history including After The Fall, In The Grey, Angela’s Dish, and bucket loads more – in amongst all the Coast’s rock and punk bands I’ll be doing my folk thing with a trio. Keep your eye on The Reunion Facebook page for the timetable. Get tickets here.
::EDIT::
Unfortunately due to a last minute timetable change that has clashed with prior commitments, I will now not be able to play a set at The Reunion Festival. That being said, there’s loads of great acts on the line up and it promises to be a great day. Apologies to any who have been inconvenienced.
There’s lots of news to come for 2013. Stay Tuned.
All the best, love to all, stay safe over the holidays.
x
Things have been busy the past few weeks. Producer, Jamie Hutchings and engineer Chris Colquhoun, have had their heads down and have now finished the bulk of the mixes for the upcoming album. Hopefully the new recordings will see the light of day early in the new year. In the meantime I’ve recorded a new song with my good friend Michael Carpenter for our on again/off again side project. We wrote, recorded and mixed this song in the space of about 5 hours whilst MC’s offsider Kylie Whitney filmed the results – you can check it out in the clip below:
Last weekend I also recorded 3 children’s songs for the author of the children’s book Bill The Fish. Earlier this year the book was transformed into an interactive download and the release was so successful that the creator, Brett Curzon, is now working on a seperate musical app for iPhone/iPads. Sea Shanties and a whales lullaby was the directive so we played pirates for the day. You can download Brett’s original Bill The Fish interactive book here. The new musical app should be out later in the year.
Finally, I’ll be playing a show on Friday 5th Oct at The Newsagency, Marrickville’s cosiest (secret-ish) venue with Cam MacKellar and Sarah Humphreys – we’ll play a couple of sets as “Songwriters In The Round” You can find all the ticket details here. Bring a bottle of wine and a rug and join us for the night….
Love Mark
x
Hey Folks
Yeah, it’s been a while between drinks
Although it may not have seemed like much has been going on lately
(if you’re a regular visitor to this site)
Plenty has been going on behind the scenes
First I had to get over a mammoth bout of writers block
My first thankfully and hopefully my last
To reboot my brain freeze I pushed myself into unfamiliar territory
I started by writing no songs at all about myself…
No confessionals, no heart on the sleeve, no crying in my gin
This time I wanted to tell stories about others (more interesting already yeah?)
I also wanted to incorporate some of the other side of my musical background
Styles I’d usually try to keep seperate from my own music
This time some riotous Dixie, calypso (yeah I was even in a calypso band once)
Late night mexican infused jazz (?)
European and Country waltzes
And some good old fashioned holler and stomp
Next I also decided to record these songs differently as well
Throw myself into a completely new environment
Every album I’ve ever made so far has been with the help of my two very good friends
Michael Carpenter and timEbandit Powles (The Church)
They have been my long suffering creative partners from day 1 – my safety net
I’ve always wandered into their studios and sat down at the computers for a couple of weeks
And slowly crafted my songs with their generous help
This time I jumped into the deep end of the studio pool
And decided to record the whole thing as live as possible straight to 1″ tape
Not a computer in the room
I asked my good friend Jamie Hutchings to produce.
Jamie has produced the bulk of the Bluebottle Kiss back catalogue, his own solo albums and albums for The Maladies, Peabody, Browning and more
He added his familiar spit, grit and sandpaper to the tunes
We even co-wrote a couple
We all rehearsed hard for the months leading up to the recording
Jamie on electric guitar and percussion, Scott (his brother) on drums and percussion
Reuben Wills on double bass and Adam Lang on banjo, lap slide and pedal steel
Then it was next decided to take this recording out of the studio environment
We dragged engineer Chris Colquhoun’s home studio into a empty guest house at Avalon
We recorded the 5 piece band completely live over 3 days
Then we recorded a few sparse overdubs – horns and background vocals
It’ll be awhile now before we get the final results – a few months most likely
I’ll keep you updated here. I have uploaded a Recording Diary full of photos from the sessions here.
I’ve also started a tumblr page so as to keep a photo diary of the albums progress.
Have a browse, there’s plenty to see and read about the upcoming album already…
In the meantime I’m playing a show with two of the Central Coast’s finest – Sarah Humphreys and Mike McCarthy. You can find all the details on the Upcoming Shows page
Love
Mark
I’ll be closing this year by playing one final Sydney show with my good friend Jamie Hutchings before heading into the studio early next year to start recording the follow up to The Waiting Room. This’ll be the last chance to come along and have a listen to a few of the newies before we commit them to tape. I’ll be joined by Adam Lang (Suitcase drums, glock, banjo, lapslide, guitar) Jochen Gutsch experimental multi-instrumentalist from HINTERLANDT will join us on trumpet and bassist Reuben Wills may be joining us for a couple of tunes. (you’ll have to come along to find out). Actually you can see a clip of this line up in action, filmed live at The Vanguard a few months ago, here. Tix are onsale now. Details/online bookings info is on the Upcoming Shows page.
PS In other news a new clip for the song “Troubled Genius” (a song inspired by the Phil Spector murder trial) is now up on YouTube – created by Canadian David Duchow -who has made numerous clips for Oz legends The Church. The clip features a trippy collection of histories troubled genuises….see if you can spot them all.
For more information visit http://www.yauami.com/afterthegoldrush
This event is also proudly sponsored and supported by Sydney’s iconic Rock Shop – Troy Horse.
Mark Moldre 