European Archive dates announced

If any of you took my advice and grabbed the free live download of Archive you will probably have had this info via email already but Archive have announced further European dates for April to go with the previously announced UK dates.

So no sooner has Smiley finished the Vinyl Tour he is back out on the road (Mike is too with Big Country!) for the following.....

APRIL
4th STUTTGART Longhorn
5th LEIPZEIG E-Werk 2
6th WIESEBADEN Schlachthof
7th FREIBURG Jazzhaus
9th KREFELD Kufa
12th LILLE Paradis Artificiel Festival
17th GLASGOW Oran Mor
18th MANCHESTER Sound Control
19th LONDON Koko
26th VANNES Insolent Festival
28th STRASBOURG Artefact Festival

Tickets are on sale now!

Archive offer free EP download

Archive are celebrating the end of their successful "With Us Until You're Dead" tour by offering all fans a free 4 track live EP recorded on the tour. The EP features "Interlace", "Pills", "Again" and "Black And Blue" which is a previously unreleased track.

All you have to do to get your download is to head over to the Archive site www.archiveofficial.com and click the link which will ask for your email address then... hey presto you have your free download!

Remember if you like what you hear then tickets for the short UK tour next year are now on sale and the bands latest album "With Us Until You're Dead" is in all good stores now!

Mike brings Xmas to NY!

Mike will be appearing at The Bowery Electric in New York this coming Wednesday (19th December) which I know may not be for everyone reading this but if you are Stateside and fancy it check out www.theboweryelectric.com 

The night is being billed as the Old Soul Revival Bowery Electric Holiday Party with Mike featuring as the evenings very special guest on a bill of over 20 artists....oh and there is a free bar from 9-10!

Glen Matlock & The Philistines to play Strummer gig

Glen Matlock & The Philistines will be playing the 100 Club in Oxford Street on the 22nd and 23rd of December as part of the 10th Anniversary Memorial to Joe Strummer. Tickets are available for £20 in advance for one night or £30 covering both days.

Title track of new Big Country album airs

The title track of next years new Big Country album "The Journey" has aired on Derek Forbes radio show on LA Talk Radio. As well as opening the show with the track he talks briefly about it but if you aren't in the L.A. area then don't worry you can still hear the track and show via the net! Download the show here http://www.latalkradio.com/archives/Forbes-121412.mp3

The more I hear of the new material the more excited I get about the new album! 2013 is looking like it will be a great one for Alarm & Big Country fans!

Big Country announce 2013 tour dates

The journey has begun! 

Big Country have announced "The Journey" tour today that will see them play a series of dates in the UK in April but maybe even bigger news is that it will coincide with the release of the much anticipated new studio album. Tickets go on sale from Friday 14th December and the dates in full are....

APRIL 2013

12th - GLASGOW O2 ABC
13th - ABERDEEN Lemon Tree
14th - NEWCASTLEO2 Academy
16th - LIVERPOOL O2 Academy
18th - SHEFFIELD Corporation
19th - MANCHESTER The Ritz
20th - SOUTHAMPTON University
21st - LONDON The Forum
23rd - CARDIFF Solus
24th - WOLVERHAMPTON Wulfrun Hall
25th - NORWICH Waterfront

Archive photos....and new UK dates!

After playing a brilliant gig last night at Heaven in London Archive have announced 3 new UK dates for next year all of which are on sale now.

The dates are...

APRIL

17th GLASGOW Oran Mor

18th MANCHESTER Sound Control

19th LONDON Koko

I would advise checking the venues sites rather than the links on the official Archive site as I saved myself about £3 on booking fees by doing this!

While we are here I may as well share some photos from last nights show...apologies for the lack of decent shots of Smiley!

The Mission announce Xmas dates....2013!

The Fields Of The Nephilim - Shepherds Bush Empire 2012

Craig will be out and about with The Mission for a series of dates announced for the end of next year when they go out with The Fields Of The Nephilim on the Revelations tour.

You can see them at the O2 Academy in the following places....

DECEMBER

14th GLASGOW
15th LEEDS
17th BIRMIMGHAM
18th BRIXTON


Tickets are available through www.ticketweb.co.uk and www.artistticket.com the only catch is...you will have to wait a whole year!

Dave Sharp announces new dates

Photo courtesy of DaveSharp.org

Dave Sharp has announced a fresh batch of dates taking in the end of this year and the beginning of next on what is being dubbed "The Never Ending Tour" in true Bob Dylan style! Confirmed dates so far are....

NOVEMBER
30th The Snowgoose Restaurant & Cafe Bar MACCLESFIELD

DECEMBER
7th The Railway Tavern TREDEGAR
14th Mink Tattoo Coffee Bar MIDDLESBOROUGH
15th The George LEEDS
20th The Retreat LEDBURY
21st Keystones WORCESTER

JANUARY
4th The Grapes Hotel STONECLOUGH
12th The Snowgoose Live MACCLESFIELD
13th House With No Name BOLTON
19th The Crown Hotel PORTPATRICK
24th Telfords Warehouse CHESTER
25th The Bunker Club @ The Conservative Club WHITEFIELD

FEBRUARY
21st STROUD (venue tba)


Support Dave and live music - go along if you can!

Multiple New Releases Announced!

Well they did say Mike was putting the finishing touches to some "very special" MPO releases and today just how special they are was finally revealed with the announcement of not one but three new releases set for pre-xmas!

Firstly we have the five disc set "In The Poppy Fields : Collected Works"  which gathers all the Poppy Fields recordings but each track has been remixed and revisited by Mike to make it sound completely fresh. It isn't a straight forward re-issue project by any means. The track lists and full details can be found on the Alarm site and store so I won't repeat them here -  instead check out the link http://thealarm.myshopify.com/collections/frontpage/products/mike-peters-the-alarm-xmas-bundle-2012

Disc 1 & 2 are the collected "In The Poppy Fields"

Disc 3 is "In The Poppy Fields" Live at the Gathering

Disc 4 continues the Gathering set and also features the "Fun In The Sun" documentary recordings and 2 demos and a B-Side.

Disc 5 is a DVD featuring 44 min gig from San Siro Stadium from 2002, the half hour Edward Henry Street film by Mike and a 15 minute making of.

PRICE £39.99

Then we have a 51 track double CD recorded at 12 different venues on last years Mike Peters acoustic tour called "30th Anniversary Acoustic Alarm Tour 1981 - 2011" this was an amazing tour and personally it would be great to see soundboard mixes made available of each night as downloads but for now this promises to be an awesome document of a very special solo tour.

PRICE £19.99

Finally we have the expected document of this years Gathering which comes as a four disc set split between two CDs and 2 DVDs. So that's four and a half hours of video footage and two hours forty of audio!!!

PRICE £24.99

Now I'm sure many of you will want to buy all three releases budgets and/or Santa permitting and I don't blame you! If you can get all three then there is a bonus and incentive to do so this year. Firstly you get a £5 saving on the overall price making it £79, secondly you will get free postage but the most important incentive comes in the form of a bonus CD "Talking Sleevenotes" which has Mike reading an 8000 word very personal essay surrounding "In The Poppy Fields" as well as featuring some rare and unreleased tracks.

PRICE £79.00

Joe Silva - Islington Academy Friday 23rd November 2012 (Red Poppy Tour)

As I said in the previous post, Joe delivered a brilliant set on Friday although I wish it had been longer so I could have heard some more of my favourite tracks from "Blue".

For those that have seen Joe on this tour who haven't heard the album yet then check out the review on this site and grab yourself a copy of the album from I-Tunes it is well worth it.

I would like to add a personal thank you to Joe for helping secure us the camera pass in order for us to use better cameras than usual to bring you all a visual document of the gig and also for being a great bloke, taking time out to have a chat before the gig - even if our advice on which pub to go to proved to be duff!

Mike Peters - Red Poppy Tour Islington Academy Friday 23rd November 2012

What a fantastic show in London (again!) ...Joe Silva was a great and most welcome addition to the tour and treated us to an all too short half hour set which mainly featured tracks from his new album "Blue" as well as his tribute to those who died in The Station night club fire in 2003 "97 Angels" before closing with his take on a Paul Simon classic. It was great hearing tracks from "Blue" stripped down into an acoustic form and I hope many people took advantage of the amazingly low price that "Blue" was at the merchandise desk! I would have loved to have seen a longer set from Joe but at least he confirmed he will be at the Gathering in January so we have that to look forward to.

Talking about the merchandise desk...it was a great idea to do a 3 for 2 offer which I took advantage of to pick up some long wanted DVD's as well as the excellent Tour T-Shirt. I would definitely have picked up more at a different time of year so hopefully they will repeat this excellent offer on the "Vinyl" tour or even on the web site.

Mike delivered an amazing set, the beauty of these shows is the unpredictable nature of the set list each night making each show genuinely unique. Coming on to the crowds "Blaze Of Glory" chants you knew it was going to be a great night from word go. After being hit by a technical issue with one of the two guitars he had (that would plague him all night - meaning only one could be used) Mike came into the audience to treat us to  "This Train" while it was being sorted - for the record I think the guitar was ok, it was the cable or the box it was going into that was the problem! So after 2 tracks Mike announced that he had played what he wanted to play so it was over to us to decide what else he played. A little different from the last acoustic shows in that he didn't just take shouted out requests but wanted to find out why the person wanted to hear it. It was good to see many Big Country fans turning out to support Mike as he helps to continue the Big Country legacy and it is obvious he is happy to play BC tracks but did change the requested track for one that would work better in an acoustic setting. Joe Silva came back to the stage joining Mike for what would normally be the encore but as the venue is under a strict 10pm curfew tonight no time is wasted in the niceties of going of stage to milk the applause. The night ends with a seasonal run though of the John & Yoko classic "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" before Mike announces he isn't finished but due to the curfew he will be taking the show to the plaza outside the venue walking with the exiting crowd to start an acoustic sing along outside of "In A Big Country" and "45 RPM". As the venue is part of a shopping precinct the sudden appearance of a Welshman touting a guitar and bringing a couple of hundred close friends with him it alarmed the precinct security somewhat! So Mike lets it stand at an impromptu open air two song encore and we go away happy after witnessing an amazing night!