Woodpigeon

"When I first tried my hand at writing songs, I was living in a golden-tinged flat down Easter Road in Edinburgh with the daughter of an SAS man who’d given me a reduced rate on rent out of a fondness for Canadians. I had a lovely Spanish guitar with a tragically cracked head, given to me by two Swiss girls I’d been helping out with their English lessons after they’d snatched it from the hostel in which we’d originally met. The first band I’d assembled went by the name Woodpigeon Divided By Antelope Equals Squirrel (or W/A=S for short), but nothing that came out of me then was worth much. I was too afraid to sing and didn’t know my way around a song, so we didn’t do anything beyond a couple of silly surf instrumentals. I remember one song was called ‘John Cusack Escapes From the Nazis,’ and I wrote it after watching the film Max and wishing for a different ending. When the bass player decided to head back to Australia, we smashed our instruments in the street (although that guitar was pretty much on death’s door as it was) and called it a day.

Heartbreak (cue the strings) sent me home from Scotland, and back in Canada Woodpigeon was born again. I’ve always been in love with the word Woodpigeon for as long as I can remember. When you write it in cursive, it looks like a rollercoaster. The first proper tune I finished was ‘Feedbags’, and once it was done I considered myself enough of a renaissance man to not write any more of them. I played it to a few people and planned to file my songwriting experience away alongside filmmaking (15 films made, 1 of them good), novel writing (and re-writing the same book for years now), and basketball (smashed a boy’s face for getting in my way once) as merely temporary diversions. But this song-writing thing seemed to stick, and soon I was writing one for everyone who’d really meant something to me, and the way my world had changed in the search for a place to call home. There’s 14 songs on Songbook, but about 100 others waiting in the wings. Some are better than others – I’ll admit that – but I can’t imagine ever stopping now. In fact, I’m pretty much just doing it all of the time. I wrote ‘Death By Ninja (A Love Song)’ as the tape rolled, with no idea what chord I’d hit next or what words would come out of my mouth. People seem to really like that one, so if anything, I suppose it speaks for the power of spontaneous creativity (and how I’m not the only one with a bit of a thing for ninjas).

To me, Songbook is a diary set to music of my return to Canada, told in flashback after the introduction of ‘Home as a Romanticized Concept Where Everyone Loves You Always and Forever.’ I wanted to wrap sad words with pretty pop music. I wanted to build a mini-orchestra with my friends. I wanted to make a record that was both small and huge, and sometimes both of those things at the same time. Some people get over things by talking about them to anyone who’ll listen, but for me, it’s a lot easier to just sing my heart out and hope whoever’s listening gets a little something out of it too." – Mark Hamilton of Woodpigeon

Woodpigeon have been championed by Steve Lamacq, played with Grizzly Bear, toured with Broken Social Scene, and have just completed their first UK tour accompanied in part by their good friends Calexico.

In the meantime, this prolific collective headed by creative provocateur Mark Hamilton are completing the mix on their second album Die Stadt Muzikanten, due in Spring 2009.

RELEASES:

28/04/08:That Was Good But You Can Do Better (EOTR0006) 7" Single (ltd.500) and download


29/09/08: Songbook (EOTR0008) CD album

www.myspace.com/woodpigeon

www.woodpigeon-songbook.com

The Young Republic

The Young Republic are a virtuoso octet equally schooled in the arts of sunny, country tinged guitar-pop and orchestral derring-do. Hailing from the Back Bay neighbourhood of Boston, Massachusetts, the band formed around a refectory table in their freshman year, and have rapidly proved themselves to be among the most distinctive ensembles in the greater New England area. Having toured the US twice and built a grass roots following via three self-released EPs and radio sessions for the likes of WOXY, The Young Republic are now ready to take their blend of classic pop and classical smarts to the world.

The YR takes each tune and adds their special blend of folk, rock and classical styles. Deliberately and delicately adding instrument upon instrument, with keen ears for harmony, color and counterpoint, they create music that aims more towards the 60's pop music giants (Wilson, Lennon, McCartney) and the luminaries who overshadow even them (Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy, Stravinsky) than their contemporaries. They are at heart, a rock band, but it is perhaps a willingness to stretch into new musical territory that earns notice for their sound.

The Young Republic have already toured the UK in June 2007, which saw them play the last ever instore at Rough Trade Covent Garden, an XFM Session for John Kennedy, and win over critics and audience alike at a series of London shows. They also took on the mud at Glastonbury and won!. Recorded in classrooms, bedrooms and old churches with assembled friends (including at one point a 20 piece choir!) 12 Tales From Winter City their debut album, charts the beginning stages of this hugely promising band.

RELEASES:

23/04/07: Blue Skies (EOTR0001) 7" Single (ltd.500) and download

25/06/07: Girl From The Northern States/ Your Heart Belongs In Tennessee (EOTR0002) 7" Single (ltd. 750) and download

17/09/07: Modern Plays (EOTR0004) 7" Single (ltd. 1000) and download

Jan 2008: 12 Tales From Winter City (EOTR0005) Album CD/Ltd. Vinyl/Download

Port O'Brien

Though raised in the small coastal town of Cambria, CA, Van Pierszalowski spent all of his summers on Kodiak Island in Alaska, where his father works as a commercial salmon fisherman. Every summer, Van would (and still does) go up North to work on his father's boat, the Shawnee. The work is intense (20 hr. work days, weeks after weeks without touching land, no showers or toilets, stormy seas), but ultimately rewarding (beauty, inspiration, and money.)

During the summer of 2005, Van took the inspiration from his time spent at sea and started composing the songs that now will make up their latest offering, The Wind and the Swell, and named his band Port O'Brien after a now-abandoned cannery site where his parents met in the late '60s. The musical attributes of the resulting collection of song showcased the paradox between the band's ferocity and its tenderness. The male and female vocal counterpoint and the urgent rushes of instrumentation mid-song meet with the gentle strum of acoustic guitars and wistful imagery of the sea. These songs present music as a document of experience; shot through as they are with pathos, imagination, enthusiasm, and warmth.

Over the past couple of years, Port O'Brien has evolved into a full 4-piece band and currently performs all around California. Onstage, their youthful vigor (the average age of a member is 21) compliments their folkish sound in a way that feels exciting and new, as if Cap'n Jazz were translating a set of Will Oldham's most approachable material.

Port O'Brien have recently shared the stage with Bright Eyes, Vetiver, Man Man, Akron/Family, Little Wings, Fujiya and Miyagi, Frog Eyes and many others. In March 2007 M.Ward named them as his favourite new band during an interview with Pitchfork.

RELEASES:

10/09/07: Close the Lid / Five and Dime (EOTR0003) 7" Single (ltd.1000) and download

www.myspace.com/portobrien

www.portobrien.com