News
ESP to support Sparks + Thomas White solo dates
The Great Escape: Thomas White and Restlesslist For starters, the ‘List will be ripping it up at 12 in the afternoon outside the new Brighton library (Jubilee Square) on the 15th of May. That evening we’ll also be doing the Revenge club. The next day (the 16th) we have an afternoon showcase with Moshi Moshi Records at 2 in the afternoon at the Albert, then I have two solo shows, first at PoNaNa (at around 8), then a really, really late one at the Komedia around 1am. See you there, and there, and there, and there… and there! TW x
SPARKS SPECTACULAR: Sparks have announced the first bands to support them on their album-a-night 20 gigs at the Islington Academy, London between May 16 and June 11 2008. These twenty shows will see Sparks performing their first 20 albums – one album per night, commencing with the 1971 album Halfnelson and concluding with 2006’s Hello Young Lovers.
Electric Soft Parade support on 11th June: Tickets – allsparks.com – Myspace
Thomas White May-June Solo Shows: Venue & Ticket info
Most dates are with Chris T-T and they are still on the lookout for floors on which to crash. So far, they are sorted for Glasgow, Hull, York and a couple of others. Anyone providing a floor/bed will get as many guestlist places as they need at whichever shows they wish. Get in touch at the Thomas White or ESP Myspace
MAY
16: The Great Escape, Brighton (Po No Na & Komedia Studio Bar)
19: The Amersham Arms, London (New Cross)
20: Joogleberry Playhouse, Brighton
21: Fibbers, York
23: Brel, Ashton Lane, Glasgow
24: Festival Without Fields, Hull
25: Barfly, Cambridge
27: The Enterprise, London (Chalk Farm)
28: Jericho Tavern, Oxford
29: Bodega, Nottingham
JUNE
1: The Boiler Room, Guildford
2: The Louisiana, Bristol
3: Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff
4: The Glee Club (Studio) Birmingham
5: Little Civic, Wolverhampton
6: Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
8: The Musician, Leicester
10: The Cellars, Portsmouth
New photos from Europe at visual-music.org and more in the Gallery
The latest Blogs + News
30/04/08: As promised, here is a home-made shonk-marathon, set to “The Runaround”. I need to apologise in advance for the shit quality – trust me, it looks fresh on my laptop, it’s just lost a bunch of the definition in translation. I shall endeavour to improve this soon, and upload the results. In the meantime, enjoy some seriously pixellated psychedelia!!! HERE
I May Be 24 Now, But I Still Fucking Hate Jim Davidson: So, I’m 24 today!! Whatever. I’d like to take this pivotal moment in my life to start a Jim Davidson thread. Or rather, an ANTI-Jim Davidson thread on the Myspace Blog
26/04/08: Firstly, there are some fresh shots recently posted here: kymmo.com of ESP playing at Lyon In Rock (click on gallery then festivals) and Ninkasi Kao, Lyon, at the end of last year (click on gallery then concerts) Very lush indeed.
ESP have been asked to contribute a cover of an 80’s song to a compilation, the exact details of which I don’t know at this moment. Any ideas – bearing in mind the only guidelines are that it has to be a song from the 80’s?! Post your suggestions on the Myspace Blog
Europe Has It Right/New ESP EP
22/04/08: They do, believe me. In every way. It is just such a pleasure, on every level, to play on the continent. Apart from great venues and even greater crowds, we had the best meal of the tour in Lyon, on our day off. A small Italian place next to our hotel, me and Al opted for the Roquefort, apple and walnut salad, and we weren’t dissapointed. The waiter even got his bass out from behind the bar when he realised we were a band (photo) The shows weren’t bad either.
We had an absolute stonker in Vienna (Lyon, too) ....and supporting Ian Brown again was great, not to mention Matt and Damo stepping up to the 3-piece challenge at The Bataclan like true professionals (photos) After which we sprinted across town to be reunited with Al and play our own little headliner at Le Showcase. Brilliant. Can’t wait to go back in the autumn.
More photos in the Gallery HERE thanks to Damo Waters.
Also, and this is a very tenuous tit-bit, me and Alex have begun preparations for the next intallment of ESP-ness. At present, the plan is to issue an EP of brand new material in the autumn, with a bunch of touring to accompany, followed by our fourth (!!!) LP proper. Currently un-titled, the EP will certainly feature new live-favourite ‘Things Snowball’ and ‘We Don’t Need To Fight Anymore’, as heard on our myspace.
On a completely different note, we (myself and Chris T-T) are in the process of organising our May/June tour. The dates are up on both our myspaces, and we’ll be looking for floors/spare rooms to kip on/in where possible. If anyone’s feeling kind enough to help out, do not hesitate to contact me at my Myspace or the ESP Myspace Anyone providing a floor/bed will get as many guestlist places as they need at whichever shows they wish.
Many thanks,
TW
X
Thomas White news
New song – The Devil In A Trojan Horse: Thomas White Myspace
May-June solo shows: Venue & Ticket links here
Debut Solo Album – I Dream Of Black: released 14th July on Drift Records
His first solo outing, I Dream Of Black, is a home crafted dream-scape of whirring synths, psych-guitar, and the instantly recognisable vocal. With the self-imposed remit of “making a cohesive record without going anywhere near a studio”, Tom set himself up with a Tascam 4-Track tape recorder and began brainstorming.
Inspiration is derived from a myriad of different sources including The Dandy Warhols, RTX, Broadcast, Money Mark, Clearlake and The Wicker Man. Amid ambient electro-acoustica and playful surf ‘wig-outs’, the single The Runaround sees Thomas “channeling Courtney Taylor-Taylor circa 1998”, while the albums’ “only love song” Starry Nite #2 conjures up The Beach Boys at their beatific best. Starry Nite #3 splices Robert Wyatt’s early seventies recordings with the dusty beats of Money Mark, and closer Wartime Love/Solar Collapse imagines the sound of a solar implosion as heard from earth.
Thomas played a session on 6 Music: read the Blog and interview transcript
ESP in Europe
Le Bataclan 19th April photos: Photos And Gigs and Sound Of Violence
ESP were on FM4 radio from Austria on the 15th April. They had an interview and played an acoustic session: interview transcript and Listen here
Jagermeister Rock Liga, Germany: Video footage HERE Updated 12th April. Watch Broadcast, If That’s The Case… Everybody Wants, Have You Ever Felt Like It’s Too Late and Silent To The Dark. Thanks to Kirstie & Stuart Flynn.
Photos here New pics by Damo Waters, for larger View Pics at Myspace
30/03/08: Such a well organised, fun, friendly tour!! Munich, Stuttgart, Leipzig and Dresden all blew us away, though Dresden was my favourite. Ferry home was a buncha laughs, as was getting Damo on a train just in time, but we got there in the end, and are now safely ensconced back at home.
Anyway, I must extend a massive “TA” to all involved in the Jagermeister Rock Liga, especially George, who did our onstage sound every night and was awesome; Axel, who, despite having his own band took time out to emcee the whole caboodle and introduce each band every night, take the scores and generally whip the crowd up – he was wicked; I have to also mention Richey, who was tour manager for the whole thing and did a fine job of keeping us all under control!! God knows we needed it. Lastly, a big cheers to Chris P, our own tour manager and front of house engineer. And driver. And everything in between. We cannot thank him enough. All good.
In a couple of days I head up to Manchester for this session and gig. Very much looking forward to seeing Marc Riley again as he is one of the funniest people alive, though the thought of my first EVER solo radio session is a little daunting to say the least. Only one thing for it: Gam-ba-te!!!!!!!! TW X
25/03/08: Gerrrrrrmannnyeeeeee!!!!! Good one last night in Essen – big crowd, and we seemed to go down very well. I am writing this from the dressing room at the Backstage club in Munich. It’s a rotating bill, so we were on first last night, second tonight, headlining tomorrow. The venue is currently heaving to the sounds of Zoot Woman, we’re on in 20 minutes, and the place is absolutely fucking rammed… BANZAI!!! More when it comes. Sorry to anyone who may be trying to get into contact with us over the next week – we’ll be in Germany for the next week, then it’ll be back to business as usual! TW X
New ESP Myspace track + Thomas White news
Hand In Hand, Kemptown: Visit the Myspace Blog for live videos from Thomas White and Stuart Flynn, filmed by Alex on the 3rd March.
New Shoes??!!! New one of Alex’s up right now in myspaceland ’We Don’t Need To Fight Anymore’ had been heard by quite enough people for the time being, thankyouverymuch. In it’s place is ’Things Snowball’... think Queens with a Brighton accent, or maybe Supergrass with semitone-based OCD. Though really there’s so much more to it than that. Won’t have this ’un up for too long as we’ve an album to write and more to share. Enjoy!
Thomas White news: Thomas will be Marc Riley-ing it in the early evening of the 3rd of April. 6Music, about 7.30/8.00pm. He will then sojourn to the Night And Day for a wee acoustic set of loveliness. Marc Riley website & myspace
A new Thomas White solo show has been added for the evening of the 6Music session in Manchester. Thomas will perform a short acoustic set at The Night And Day Cafe, onstage around 9pm, 5 quidz on the door. Maybe they’ll even let him use their piano! Other acts are as yet unconfirmed… Thomas White Myspace
Current Reading Mark (Eels) Everett’s autobiography…
Thomas White at The Luminaire
Thomas White played a short set of songs from his ‘I Dream Of Black’ EP, and various covers at The Luminaire on March 8th – photo by Cath here
Visit the Myspace to watch videos of Piazza, New York Catcher (Belle and Sebastian cover) The Runaround and Blue It Is (Billy MacKenzie cover)
Luminaire Last Night (visit the Blog to read in full) Just want to say a massive big thank you to all the lovely folk who came down and stuck around for my set. Everyone was so quiet and attentive – doing this has truly given me the confidence in these songs, having never played them live before. Thanks also to Amir, Ross and Andy from the venue for looking after me so well, and Rupert and Sarah Drift for taking care of me post-venue.
PaleFox writes on the Forum: Mr White was fantastic last night. Played a 12 string acoustic guitar, and started with an Elliot Smith song, did a new song he’d written this last week which was great. The Runaround was AWESOME live. I mean, just staggeringly good. He also did Blue It Is by Billy MacKenzie (thank you), and finished with a Belle and Sebastian song. Can’t wait till that EPs out.
End Of The Road by Dennis Wilson If anyone can find a lusher song in this world, show me it please. Check it out here.
Tom White on Tom Cruise I’d like everybody to just take a few (well, nine) minutes out of their day to watch this incredible video of Tom Cruise discussing his “religion”. You really do need to watch the whole thing. Pretty undeniable proof, once and for all, that Scientology basically has no discernible doctrines or rules…
Thomas White news, New Lyon date
Thomas White and long-time ESP collaborator Stuart Flynn performed a ‘Lounge Set’ of jazz standards, covers and originals at the lovely Hand In Hand in Kemptown, Brighton on 3rd March. Read more about the night here
As promised, the Lyon In Rock show has been moved to April 18th, to allow us to play with our old pal Brownie on the 19th in Paris. We’re also going to be providing shits and giggles for The Very Mr. Brown at his Zurich show. Awesome. There will also be club shows in Vienna and Graz.
Recommended Video “Soul Coughing are a band me and Al very much love…”
New Album Demo at Myspace
Recommended Listening “Songs that are fucking with my head right now…”
23rd February: NEW TRACK ON MYSPACE!!!
As promised, detritis of unprecedented proportions is a-rainin’ down in myspace land. To add to the covers already posted on the site these last couple of weeks, the boys will be offering up a different demo from Album 4 every week or so. The first is a new tune of Tom’s called ‘We Don’t Need To Fight Anymore’. Enjoy!
24th February: Firstly, can we say a big thank you for all the encouraging words you folk have written about the new song up on myspace. We’ve not really had a chance to try any of this new stuff out on an audience yet, so this really means a lot to us at this point. Hopefully we’ll have more up in the next few days. We’re also in the process of confirming some mighty exciting French/Swiss shows, and y’all will be the first to know. Thank you again… a million times!
Solo EP news + Restlesslist update
22nd February: Tom writes: The “I Dream Of Black” EP is now set for an early June release. Drift Records will be taking care of me in the UK, while I will have the pleasure of working with Better Looking Records again in the States. Check the Myspace for gig details and snippets from the EP.
Sadly, Restlesslist have had to pull their shows with Misty’s Big Adventure at the end of the month due to unforeseen circumstances. Shame, as we were all very much looking forward to playing with them once again. All the other shows are still on.