Friday, 11 November 2016

CHRIS T-T

'Love Me, I'm A Liberal' Single out 25th November 2016
Supports Carter USM's Jim Bob in November / December

Xtra Mile laureate Chris T-T will see out our annus horribilis with an autumn and winter of touring 'Love Me I'm A Liberal' and supporting good friend and national treasure Jim Bob.

'Love Me I'm A Liberal' is the second single from Chris's tenth studio album 9 Green Songs. Inspired by the classic satire by US protest singer Phil Ochs, the song raises an iPad selfie to the safe-and-sound set quite happy to finger point, jeer and slacktivise for change from the internet and for the benefit of their right-on friends. The single version is full-band (the album cut is a solo piano ballad), giving it a cheeky Britpop jangle, as if playing along with the smug. The track is accompanied by a vicious, warped cut-and-paste Chris T-T vs Gypo Buggane  remix of acapella poem 'Cutting A Longbow', and Elliott Smith cover 'Cupid's Trick', capturing the sparse original in electric guitar drones and hi-hat hesitation.

9 Green Songs refuses to toady up to expectations, from its title to its targets, its mood or even its musical genre. It's the album we deserve for the times we've come to expect at the moment we've realised we've become complacent.

Chris's enormous stack of songs, whether playing solo or with his accomplished fireb(r)and the Hoodrats, chart the last 16 years of British folly with bold storytelling, an incisive wit, and a little bit of good ole' English crass. Whether brewing storms with piano chords, cutting folk songs from acoustic strings, or throwing the audience ire-laced sentences accompanied only by silence or pounding drums, the T-T live experience is a journey that never takes the same turns and always finds a way to the heart and the head.

Chris will join old friend and ex-Carter USM singer Jim Bob on Jim's first solo tour of the UK in five years. Chris will perform before the duo play songs from the album Jim Bob Sings Again, a collection of hits and fan favourites re-recorded with new vocal arrangements and piano provided by Chris, the sole instrumentalist on the record.

Chris T-T on the 'Jim Bob Sings Again' UK tour
NOVEMBER
24 Leeds @ Brudenell Social Club (SOLD OUT)
25 Middlesbrough @ Westgarth Social Club (20 tickets left)
26 Manchester @ Deaf Institute (SOLD OUT)
27 Devizes @ The Lamb (SOLD OUT)
29 Cambridge @ Portland Arms (SOLD OUT)
30 Leicester @ Musician (<20 br="" left="" tickets=""> DECEMBER
01 Darwen @ Theatre Library
02 Glasgow @ Stereo
03 Birmingham @ Mama Roux (<10 br="" left="" tickets=""> 04 Reading Purple Turtle (SOLD OUT)
06 Cardiff @ The Globe
07 Bristol @ Thunderbolt (SOLD OUT)
08 Brighton @ The Haunt
09 London @ 100 Club (SOLD OUT)

Keep in the loop with Chris T-T & Xtra Mile Recordings and purchase Chris’ album ‘9 Green Songs’.
www.christt.com
www.facebook.com/christt
www.twitter.com/christt

www.xtramilerecordings.com
www.facebook.com/xtramilerecordings
www.twitter.com/xtra_mile

posted by Press Counsel PR at 12:46

Wednesday, 9 November 2016

Xtra Mile's OB1 for hire!

XTRA MILE RECORDINGS 
OUTSIDE BROADCAST TRUCK AVAILABLE FOR HIRE
 LIVE AUDIO AND VIDEO RECORDING OR STREAMING IN HD
ACOUSTICALLY DESIGNED FOR AUDIO MIXING 
RUN BY ENGINEER/DRIVER WITH 25 YEARS OF LIVE AUDIO EXPERIENCE

Xtra Mile Recordings' Outside Broadcast truck is a fully mobile live recording studio capable of capturing and streaming live stage performances at gigs and festivals on video and audio, as well as having room and equipment for acoustic sessions inside. It is now available for hire at reasonable rates bringing an affordable professional quality service to clients and opening up brand new recording and promotional possibilities.

Affectionately known as XMROB1, the ex Hi-Q broadcast truck was rescued from a field before undergoing six months of intricate, accomplished rebuilding and restoration, then fitted with carefully-chosen equipment. The work was carried out by an audio engineer with 25 years of live audio experience whose skills and expertise will be available when hiring the truck.

It has already been fully road-tested by recording every Xtra Mile Recordings artist at 2000trees Festival in July. Ten tracks from these live recordings (one from each artist) has been released as the label’s latest compilation. Entitled Xtra Mile High Club Vol. 7: Truckin', the album takes mastered recordings from the truck’s digital console and delivers a clear, true sound from the festival's live stages. In-truck sessions have also been released as the video series 'Xtra Mile Presents'. Both give evidence of the ability of the truck’s equipment and engineer.

View the session we did with artist Will Varley from 2000trees Festival:


Technical specifications:
• 32 channel X32 digital console with live real-time mix and simultaneous 32 track recording The X32 desk can be substituted for a Digico SD8 or 9 for larger channel counts and up to 48 track recording if required by the client.
• Multitrack recording to custom-built rack mount PC running Reaper. 
• Stage rack: 32 channels of transformer ISO mic splits feeding digital stage boxes, isolated from the PA. 
• 75m tactical cat5 cable from stage rack to truck. This can be doubled to 150m using a Klark Teknik re-clocking box midway.
• The truck control room is acoustically designed for mixing, making it ideal for audio. 
• Blackmagic Design ATEM video switcher. 
• For basic live streaming three or four fixed cams are available, or for more demanding applications, an experienced Camera crew with broadcast grade cameras can be provided. 
• Live streaming is via either a Teradek Vidiu encoder or from MX Light software.
• For streaming and data upload: a 4G/LTE system and ViaSat KA band satellite rig. 4G system uses high gain antenna mounted on 7m mast. Satellite system uses NewsSpotter service which allows for uncontended bandwith to be pre-booked.
• Truck can be powered from a single 32a socket, two 16a sockets or even two 13 amp sockets. The truck features a substantial uninterrupted power supply which provides power temporarily should the incoming supply fail.

Costs: 
• Each job is quoted in detail depending on requirements and logistics, with an affordable price including one engineer/driver, fuel, broadband and more. One engineer may be sufficient for a simple audio-only job provided there is someone onsite to assist with running cables during setup. Additional techs will be required if the job involves live streaming, video or multiple bands eg. at a festival. 
 
For more infomation please do drop Xtra Mile Recordings a line.

posted by Press Counsel PR at 14:02

Tuesday, 8 November 2016


WILL VARLEY
New album 'Kingsdown Sundown' out now.
Announces headline show at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire 
Watch the new video for ‘February Snow’ 

There’s a flinty, wounded edge to Will Varley’s delivery that recalls the Dylan of 
The Times They Are A-Changin’,” 4/5 The Independent

The 4th November 2016 sees the release of Will Varley’s beautiful and powerful new album ‘Kingsdown Sundown’, released through Xtra Mile Recordings. Recorded underneath a pub by the sea in Deal, Kent as the waves roared outside, Kingsdown Sundown is a bleak and uncompromising critique of the human condition, journeying deep into our dreams, faults, regrets and politics.

Check out the new video from album track ‘February Snow’.


Coinciding with the release is the news that Varley will be playing his biggest show to date at the impressive and legendary O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on 25th November 2017. Tickets go on sale today from this link: www.musicglue.com/willvarley

Speaking about the show, Will says: "I used to play an open mic night across the road from Shepherds Bush Empire. I never thought years later I'd be headlining there.” 
His headline show at London’s Union Chapel later this month on 18th November had sold over out a month in advance.

The songs on ‘Kingsdown Sundown’ are more visceral and uneasy than before, with fights in KFC descending into world wars, the all too real plight of refugees and the recent rise in hate crime. A collection of folk songs written over the course of the last year while travelling and touring – written on tour buses and trains, scribbled on the back of set lists and receipts – Will says “these are the most honest songs I've ever written and they represent new ground for me creatively. They may not be radio friendly, or even 'friendly' at all, but I’ve been wanting to make a record like this for a long time."

First track to be lifted from the album ‘To Build A Wall’ – an unnervingly timely indictment of simplistic solutions to incredible complex problems on both sides of the pond – has been added to the Radio X Evening Playlist and is receiving plays and support from Steve Lamacq on 6Music. 
Watch the simple but provocative video here: https://youtu.be/rP079ROaEtM

The rest of the album is hazier, more spectral and a phantom of memories, dreams, and hopes. If there's one song that haunts as much as it heals and warms the soul, it's 'Let Your Guard Down' which sounds like it was sung deeply into the howling wind in defiance, in hope and fear. The most directly political song 'We Want Our Planet Back' feels strongly enough to strap on an electric guitar and strum over Will's patient protest, but it indirectly lends its brooding power to 'Too Late Too Soon' which seems ready to crumple and break, a sandcastle made of a simmering mood. 'Back To Hell' could have come from any period in superstitious folk history, a tale of vague menace, mysticism and the underworld. Finally,  'We'll Keep Making Plans' threatens to build to a crescendo, but instead lets us drift out into a mental sea where the sun is setting on what we knew in favour of the unknown, resolving to carry on, continuing to build our futures on shakier foundations. It’s somehow not dispiriting; it’s more driven by determination to allow sadness not to rule our lives, but be an important part of it. 

‘Kingsdown Sundown’ Tracklisting: 
1. To Build A Wall
2. Something Is Breaking
3. When She Wakes Up
4. February Snow
5. Let Your Guard Down
6. We Want Our Planet Back
7. Too Late Too Soon
8. Wild Bird
9. Back To Hell
10. One Last Look At The View
11. We’ll Keep Making Plans

Will Varley UK & Ireland Headline Tour:
08/11 Glasgow, King Tuts
09/11 Manchester, Gorilla 
10/11 Newcastle, Cluny 
11/11 Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
15/11 Portsmouth, The Wedgewood Rooms
16/11 Bristol, Thekla
17/11 Brighton, Komedia
18/11 London, Union Chapel SOLD OUT
23/11 Galway, Roisin Dubh
24/11 Dublin, Whelans
25/11 Belfast, The Sunflower
26/11 Cork, Cyprus Avenue

Purchase ‘Kingsdown Sundown’

posted by Press Counsel PR at 13:57