no.5 release timelines - previews, shows and date.

we just wanted to check in before christmas to give you the latest news on the 'no.5' project and to say we hope you'll all have a good time over the holidays. our winter tour in germany and holland was fantastic - we made a lot of new friends and saw some amazing places.

we're really happy about the way the new album is sounding, and the feedback from the few people to have heard it in the industry is very positive indeed - the CDs are in production right now, and we can't wait to get them out there. but we will have to wait a bit... here's the timescale for 5 related activities. those of you who have been following us on twitter or facebook will be aware of some of this already, but here it all is in one place:


january 11th - we'll be sending out the pre-release copies of the album to those of you who came to the show, a full two months in advance of release.
january 16th - album preview show at celtic connections festival. we're at the classic grand in glasgow from 7.30. your only chance to buy the album before the launch. also on the bill are ruth notman and john smith - tickets are £12.50 and available from the box office on 01413538000.
february 27th - official album launch show at contact, manchester - the place where it all started. tickets will go quickly, but they're on sale already to those in the know. support for this show is still to be announced. the box office number is 01612740600
march 04th - the tour begins, which will stretch through to may. more details on the website soon.
march 15th - 'no.5' is fnally released to the shops, download sites and all the other places you'd expect to find it.

we hope you'll be able to join us for one or more of these events, in one way or another.

in the meantime we're still accepting entries to our 'wall of 5' competition to win music. simply send your photo of a 5 to info@hobopop.com and we'll add it to the ever growing wall, which you can see is at least twice the size it was when it last made an appearance here. the best entries will win download codes for the album of their choice.

speaking of downloads we now have a lovely new shop that sells downloads and cds all together from one place. some of you have already visited (thank you). we're delighted to finally be able to offer our free and paid downloads from one place, in a choice of formats with artwork attached etc. we're now geared up for worldwide postage too, and anyone who buys a cd from us now gets the option of an immediate download of that same album, so they can start listening straight away!

we'll be posting our spring tour dates online very soon, and hoping to see some of you on the road before too long. we'll check back in with the details as soon as we can.


http://www.kirstymcgee.com
http://www.facebook.com/kirstymcgeemusic
http://kirstymcgee.bandcamp.com
http://www.hobopop.com

tracklisting, artwork and shows

so this is everyone's first glance at the cover of our new record - in fact it's the first time we've bothered to isolate it from the general design to have a look ourselves. as usual it's plain and simple. we like it that way. the subtlety is in the proposed packaging - we are steering completely clear of plasic this time. it should look and feel great.

it's great running your own label - you can design your own album covers too.

you can also set the tracklisting for your albums, and that's what we've been doing these last few weeks. listening to the mixes in all conceivable orders, wondering which tracks stay in, which go out, etc... and we've finally settled on a running order for the album, which we can reveal now.

1. omaha
2. alibi blues
3. last orders
4. sandman
5. bliss
6. the last one to understand
7. stonefruit
8. dust devils
9. faith
video - bonecrusher

as we mentioned before, the album is about half and half songs from the kansas sessions and new songs, plus this new version of 'bliss' from the first album (we're still working on plans for a reissue of that album, more soon...) featuring chris cundy's saxello playing. the new songs have a lovely dark energy to them - we're still really enjoying the combinations of guests all over the record.

we're looking at a release around march-time right now (subject to all the changes these things invariably go through), with the advance copies for show attendees going out in january.

if you can’t wait for march next year to get your copy of ‘no.5’ (we know how hard waiting can be...) we have some solutions to offer. we hope to be taking pre-orders from the hoboshop from sometime in february, and we’ll be making copies available for ONE NIGHT ONLY at glasgow’s celtic connections festival on SATURDAY, JANUARY 16th. we’re delighted to announce that we'll be having an early album launch party there with the full hobopop collective (plus a guest from the album) and people in the audience will be able to grab copies around six weeks before they become commercially available.

those of you who can't make scotland in january will be happy to hear that we're looking at a special launch show in manchester nearer the time of release, and a full uk tour through march and april 2010 - dates will be up on the website before the end of the year.

finally, we are also happy to announce that the no.5 jewellery from wonderhaus is now available to buy online, just in time for christmas. you can get bold and stylish 5 pendants, brooches and key-rings from their site at etsy.com - we’re still working on the currency issue, but you can use any UK credit or debit card to pay in dollars. you won’t be able to get these anywhere else until next year’s shows. these are limited to 1,000 pieces, and judging by the uptake at the recording last month they might not last long...

we're in europe on tour right now. our first show tonight in germany. we'll be having to do as much as we can of the listening back to the masters and signing off the artwork from motorway service stations around the continent. we'll look forward to seeing some of you when we get back.

mixing the album - the synchronicity of 5

i'm writing this from the sofa in the control room at valley wood studio, where we're mixing the no.5 album. all of it. in a day. big ask - but kinda fun, and certainly in keeping with the general idea of the project. do it all, do it now, keep it raw, keep it honest, don't spend too long on any of it, lest the energy is lost.

listening back you can't help hearing your mistakes - the things you might have done another way. and then you realise that you're completely missing the point of the thing by thinking that way. we're not mixing perfect performances here, we're mixing an energy captured at a moment in time. then it sounds right.

we're also still collecting 5 snaps for the wall of 5. there are millions of them in this one room. it's getting quite silly just how many. barkley (the engineer) is working on the project in digital performer, version 5. kirsty's vocal is sitting on the desk at almost exactly the +5 mark, except when we dip the signal while she's not singing. then it sits at -5, naturally. we've made a little explanatory video, with a lovely voiceover from the engineer (who understands what he's talking about, of course).

it's lunchtime and we're three songs in. 'sandman', 'omaha', 'dust devils'. starting with the downbeat numbers and working up to deal with the liveliness of the room on the louder numbers with full bellies. at the moment it's sounding lovely and smoky, dark and late-nightish. the vibe is infectious and we're loving the audience more with every cheer.

just beginning now to mix 'faith', and the studio cat, tinker, has joined us to make sure everything's up to scratch. i captured a fleeting moment of interest on camera. something must be working for her. it's interesting that the songs we seem to be picking to mix first are mainly songs that are on 'the kansas sessions' - the album is looking about half and half old and new. i would say though that the 'kansas' songs are definitely skewed differently, with different musicians and the weight of two years' touring resting against them. i think the two albums will be sufficiently different to be truly interesting.

man, the reception at the end of that song is amazing - it was the end of the set. you can hear the crowd's feet rumbling for more. nice.

and so we're moving onto some of those more torch-like duende / saudade type songs. 'last orders', the new dark anti-war song with the interplay between fretless banjo, harmonica and bass clarinet, and 'bliss' from the first album. these are harder to get right. the dynamic range is important - keeping it dark and slightly uncomfortable. chris' playing is just lovely - never predictable, all about tone and texture - he rasps his way through the underbelly of 'last orders' on bass clarinet like an undersea current; and he's poised on the edge of 'bliss' throughout - fragile and delicate, connected to the vocal. he earns the namecheck you can hear kirsty give him over the applause at the end.

the middle section of 'bliss' gives us some trouble. the sound is so much fuller and richer than the rest of the song, with nick bowing the double bass. barkley's magic riding of the faders as we print the mix creates a result that draws the breath right out of me and then drops me into the last section of the song with a palpable sense of relief. result.

another new song, 'the last to understand' (see our podcast for the preview from the rehearsals) seems to mix itself after that. it goes really well after bliss, too (note to self re. tracklisting the album).

so onto the last two tracks of the day - the loud ones, where we will have to work a bit harder to get the thing to sit right. 'stonefruit' and 'alibi blues', both featuring inspired electric guitar work from james steel. soloing the tracks to get the sound right we're realising just how inspired actually. nice work that brute.

we'll have to wait and see still how it hangs together as a whole, but i'm quietly confident that the energy of this record is just right. maybe we'll have time before the day is out to mix one last track not on the original list - details of which we'll keep to ourselves for now...

first photos back from no.5 recording session

so we finally managed to get through several hundred photos taken at the session for 'no.5' on october 10th. the shoot lasted all day, while we set up, tested the levels, soundchecked, ran through the show, hung out backstage, blindfolded james, etc, etc. the usual stuff.

we've picked about 100 that show the atmosphere in the day and during the show, and we've put half of those up as an album on facebook (and on the website soon) - we'll put the second lot up in a bit. there's plenty to be going on with.

looking back at these we're becoming aware of the event in a different way. we aren't so busy getting it done now, and you can see that everything is pretty relaxed. so happy now that we stuck with the small space at contact despite invitations to go somewhere bigger or do two nights etc - the size and space were just right, and the decision not to use a stage, apart from helping with the sound of the recording, made for a real connection with the room which i am appreciating all the more seeing these pictures now. as if the connection between the players extended beyond a defined performance space and included the audience. you can hear it on the recordings, too - creaky floorboards and all. fab!

the energy in the performance is pretty clear too from these shots. we had to be careful on the night not to stray too far from the mics that were recording us, so we couldn't turn around and move towards each other as much as we usually like to, but again those connections look and feel good here. we're just putting a few of these up here to give you a taster, but do hop over to the full album and leave us some comments. we're excited that things are starting to come back from the night already.

http://www.kirstymcgee.com

http://www.facebook.com/kirstymcgeemusic

http://kirstymcgee.bandcamp.com

http://www.hobopop.com

what happens now - since 10.10.09

october 10th was a big deal on the hobopop calendar - anyone who was anywhere near us in real or cyber-life will recall that between organising bringing guests up for rehearsals and performances and trying to explain that the show had been sold out for weeks to lovely people who wanted tickets we also had to write a set-list and play it through a few times. just a few, mind. it was busy, since we were (as always) organising the promotion and whatnot ourselves too, radio sessions here and there, and poster drops all over town...

we made a decision early on not to allocate the usual reams of press seats to give away to people in the hope of reviews. these are hard to fill and guarantee nothing. rather, we thought, put the energy into making a great show and filling the room with people who really wanted to be involved, in the hope that their energy would spill out of the room and that they would be not only the essence of the recording but also our publicity after the show. we certainly got an amazing amount of great feedback, and had a room full to bursting with genuine excitement and enthusiasm.

so, we worked hard - well what do you expect i guess. we always do. and i must say it was damned good fun too. the last minute additions of clive mellor on harmonica and the wonderful baba israel (artistic director at contact) who agreed to compere the night for us were worth the extra rehearsals and meetings etc. we do think it came off about as well as it could have done - and got that vibe back off everyone in the room too.

so what happens after that (apart from the aftershow with one of the best DJ sets i've ever heard james from the brute chorus play, i mean)? to be honest, we've been hiding away a bit. we skipped the country only days later, switched our phones off and spent a week with family halfway up a spanish mountain. we'd earned it.

but things have gone on in the meantime. just before we left we hooked up again with barkley, our recording engineer, to listen back to the show over soup and chocolate, and pick the tracks he was going to mix down for us while we were away - we're hoping to hook up again this week and put the finishing touches to the work, ready for mastering. at that point we'll come back here and give you a tracklisting for the record. exciting.

we actually got more than we hoped, too - the plan was for a mini-album, maybe 7 songs, but now it's looking like we'll have about 40mn of stuff we just don't want to get rid of. that's pretty much a whole album (are there rules about how long things should be etc?). it's all pretty honest - like we said from the start, we're not interested in doing any overdubs, repairs etc - it's all going down on disc exactly as it was on the night, despite the technical gremlins and the inspired wrong notes. the energy was right. that's what counts.

so now we are having fun with ideas, preparing some little interviews for the web, getting other plans in the pipeline (gonna be doing some fun internet stuff next year i think), putting the finishing touches to the tour for the spring, and collecting 5s:

just for fun, you understand - but if you fancy contributing to our 'wall of 5' please send your pictures to us and we'll keep growing the collage. maybe we could reward particularly awesome ones with CDs or tickets... pictures of you wearing your no.5 jewellery from wonderhaus also most welcome. it's to be available from the hoboshop in time for christmas.

more soon...

welcome to the no.5 blog

we've decided to set this little thing up here for those who want to track the progress of the album we made, live in one take, on october 10th. maybe you were there in the audience, maybe you were one of those who couldn't make it or couldn't get a ticket, maybe you just want to know more about what happens to bring something like this about... whatever reason you may have, this is here if you'd like to drop by.

there are all the usual rss feed thingies to be had, or you can just pop back in from time to time and see how we're doing. we'll try and link back here when we've done something new so for those of you who follow on facebook or twitter - keep an eye out.

we'll be checking in irregularly ('we' being kirsty mcgee and/or mat martin as usual), we can almost guarantee the 'irregularly' part of that. but every time we have something new to share that relates to the album in one way or another, we'll drop by. please comment or email as much as you like, and let us know what you'd like to see here.

that's it for now... we'll post some video and pictures etc as soon as we can. been working on the artwork for the record already and will be giving some previews soon, for now you'll have to carry on looking at the banner at the top of the page.

thanks!

http://www.kirstymcgee.com

http://www.facebook.com/kirstymcgeemusic

http://kirstymcgee.bandcamp.com

http://www.hobopop.com