Hello Just letting you know this is a fan site and the bulk of information I get from Necks newsletters you can also subscribe to and contact the band directly at;

www.thenecks.com

Here's one I received recently.

Much to tell you about!

*T SHIRTS NOW AVAILABLE
*GREAT SUCCESSES WITH FOOD COURT AND EUROPE TOUR
*AUSTRALIAN DATES ANNOUNCED
*NORTH AMERICAN TOUR ANNOUNCED
*TWO NEW BOOKS INCLUDING FEATURES ON THE NECKS

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T SHIRTS NOW AVAILABLE

Just in time for the festive season, The Necks are offering their first-ever range of T shirts. There are eight great designs, to suit every taste. (Actually, probably not.) Fabrics and printing quality are top-notch.

The Necks' T shirts are ONLY available at http://www.thenecks.com/pages/cds.html

(For overseas customers, it's a great time to buy T shirts and albums from The Necks' website. In the last five months, the Australian dollar has dropped 10% against the British pound, 19% against the Euro, 33% against the US dollar, and 41% against the Japanese yen!)

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GREAT SUCCESSES WITH FOOD COURT AND EUROPE TOUR

October/November was a busy period for The Necks, with much to show for it. In early October, we performed a sell-out season of Food Court at the Melbourne International Arts Festival. Food Court is a production by acclaimed theatre company, Back to Back Theatre .., who work with intellectually disabled performers, and The Necks were honoured to work in collaboration with them.

The result was extraordinary theatre, and highly acclaimed. Avi Lipski, writing in Australian Stage Online, said of The Necks' music:

"The audience is transfixed by their hypnotic cacophony of sound", and writing at length of the show itself said:

"I was immensely drawn to what I saw in Food Court: unfamiliar voices, sounds, shapes and colours. I was moved by the ebb and flow of the performers' emotions; transfixed by the ordinariness of their plight. I watched horrified as they inflicted pain onto one another, and felt a stirring deep inside me that harked back to memories of pain I had caused.

"Food Court is dark and often harrowing. It is unsettling, awkward, powerful theatre. I cannot make sense of it in any traditional way: it has altered my perceptions of "good" and "bad". It picked me up, carried me along, and dumped me in the depths of a faraway forest. I found it hard to fall asleep that night."

Martin Ball, in the The Age, cited The Necks' "exquisite musical improvisation" and called the production "A challenging and confronting show that plumbs the depths of human abjection and alienation, yet ultimately affirms a faith in humanity".

Meanwhile, in The Australian, Alison Croggon said "Food Court is a triumph. It's the most emotionally overwhelming theatre I've seen since Ariane Mnouchkine's Le Dernier Caravanserail: a work of devastating honesty and, ultimately, extraordinary beauty that confirms Back to Back as a key player in contemporary theatre."

The great news is Food Court will mount a return Australian season in January, in Geelong. Tickets are on sale now. This is not to be missed! Details are below.

We are also excited to reveal that Food Court has already been confirmed to perform in Europe next year. We will announce details of that soon.

After the Melbourne Festival, it was straight over to Europe for a very successful tour, the high point of which was our performance at the venerable Donaueschingen festival, the the oldest contemporary music festival in the world. We are awaiting full translations of reviews but one newspaper judged our concert the best performance of the entire festival.

Other highlights included our first ever performance in Spain, in Vigo, and a very gratifying run of double bills in France and Switzerland with Pateras/Baxter/Brown; each evening finishing with the two trios combining as a sextet.
 
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AUSTRALIAN DATES ANNOUNCED

Highlights of this next season are the All Tomorrows Parties festivals in Mt Buller, Brisbane and Sydney, and the return season of Food Court at GPAC in Geelong.

JANUARY

Mon 5th to Wed 7th - Melbourne, Corner Hotel ..

Fri 9th - Mt Buller, All Tomorrows Parties ..

Sun 11th - Adelaide, Governor Hindmarsh ..

Mon 12th - Perth, Charles Hotel ..

Thurs 15th - Brisbane, All Tomorrows Parties ..

Sat 17th, Sun 18th - Sydney (Cockatoo Island) - All Tomorrows Parties ..

Wed 28th to Sat 31st - Geelong Performing Arts Centre - Food Court, with Back to Back Theatre ..

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NORTH AMERICAN TOUR ANNOUNCED

The Necks are very excited to be mounting their first ever tour of North America, and what a tour it's turning out to be! Finally we have a chance to repay the loyalty of at least some of our many fans in the USA and Canada.

FEBRUARY

Tue 3rd - Chicago, IL, Chicago Cultural Center (To Be Confirmed)
http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/webportal/portalEntityHomeAction.do?entityName=Cultural+Center&entityNameEnumValue=128

Fri 6th - Detroit, MI, Detroit Museum of Contemporary Art
http://www.mocadetroit.org/

Sat 7th, Sun 8th - Knoxville, TN, Big Ears Festival (Sat 7th The Necks, Sun 8th collaboration by various members with other performers)
www.bigearsfestival.com

Tue 10th - New York, NY, Poisson Rouge
http://lepoissonrouge.com/
http://lepoissonrouge.inticketing.com/evinfo.php?eventid=29876&sid=

Fri 13th - Boston, MA, Institute of Contemporary Art
http://www.icaboston.org/

Sun 15th - Princeton, NY, Princeton University (performance and discussion)
hosted by the Department of Music and Free-Form Mash-Up
http://www.ffmup.org

Tue 17th - Pittsburgh, PA, The Andy Warhol Museum
http://www.warhol.org/

Thu 19th - Los Angeles, CA, REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater)
http://www.redcat.org/

FRi 20th - San Francisco, CA, Swedish American Hall
http://www.swedishamericanhall.com/

Sat 21st - Vancouver, BC, Winterruption Festival, Performance Works
http://www.coastaljazz.ca/index.cfm

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TWO NEW BOOKS INCLUDING FEATURES ON THE NECKS

Recent months have seen the release in Australia of two books on music containing significant analysis of The Necks.

First up was "Sounds of Then, Sounds of Now: Popular Music in Australia" (ACYS Publishing, edited by Shane Homan and Tony Mitchell)  which includes a chapter by highly-regarded writer John Whiteoak on improvised music in Australia, using The Necks as a case study.

Although intended as an educational text, the book has a very readable tone, and would be of great interest to anyone wishing to learn more of the musical environment from which The Necks sprang.

You can buy Sounds of Then, Sounds of Now online at

http://www.readings.com.au/product/9781875236602/sounds-of-then-sounds-of-now-popular-music-in-australlia

or

http://www.coop-bookshop.com.au/bookshop?basket_name=5712638&user_id=1228481775347&_frames_=no&_next_page_=GetSingleBook&_key_=9781875236602


More recently, we've seen the publication of John Shand's "Jazz: The Australian Accent" (UNSW Press) which profiles a selection of innovative Australian jazz and improvised musicians, comes with a companion CD, and features an entire chapter on The Necks.

UNSW Press are offering a 20% discount off the price of the book to Necks' newsletter recipients if you click on

http://www.unswpress.com.au/code13/N10147

**********

Finally, to all our fans, here's wishing you all the very best for the festive season, and a happy and safe 2009. Thank you for all your inspiring support throughout the year!

The Necks
www.thenecks.com

Hi There, Just to remind readers of this blog, this Necks myspace is a fan run site which gets its info from www.thenecks.com From that site you can also subscribe to a newsletter which is much faster than my updates of Necks shows. Members of the band do access this myspace site and have set the 'Top Friends' so this is a great opportunity to see what artists The Necks are interested in and occasionally work with. You can find me in the top friends also.

Thanks for supporting The Necks in the online world,
Christian McBride (not the bass player)

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SYDNEY SHOW BROADCAST/VODCAST/VIDEO

The Necks' memorable concert at The Factory in Sydney on 5th March this year was recorded by the ABC, and filmed by Moshcam.

One set will be broadcast on ABC Classic FM's Jazz Up Late (10.30pm-12.30am, ) on Friday 16th May. The other set will be broadcast on ABC Radio National's Music Deli on Friday 23rd May at 8:05pm, and again on Sunday 25th at 4:05pm.

The concert will also be able to be heard on the world wide web, at http://www.abc.net.au/rn/musicdeli/

But not only that, the gig will also be available as a vodcast on the ABC Radio National site

This will be the first time that an entire Necks performance has been available on video, which is very exciting for those fans who have not been lucky enough to ever see the band live. And they're two great pieces.

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OTHER NEWS

There's a couple of exciting events to tell you about -


ART OF MUSIC and THE NECKS' TOWNSVILLE

Art of Music is an event organised by Jenny Morris to raise funds and awareness for Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy, in which twelve acclaimed artists create works inspired by a favourite piece of music. The Necks' Townsville was the inspiration for one of the works, by Peter Sharp.

All the works can be viewed at the Flinders Street Gallery in Sydney from May 23rd to 30th.

Then on May 31st, a gala event, featuring live performances by Tim Finn, Neil Finn, Dave Mason and Old Man River, will be held at the Art Gallery of NSW, during which the artworks will be sold. Details at


NEW BOOK FEATURING CHAPTER ON THE NECKS

"Sounds of Then, Sounds of Now: Popular Music in Australia", a new book published by ACYS, edited by Tony Mitchell and Shane Homan, is to be launched at Gleebooks in Sydney on June 7th. Aimed primarily at university and secondary students but also of interest to the general music reader, it contains a chapter by noted writer John Whiteoak on the history of improvised music in Australia, using The Necks as a case study. More info at


GREAT REVIEWS FOR TOWNSVILLE

The Necks' recent live album, Townsville, has been garnering some great reviews:

"Townsville is a delightfully dreamy, drifting piece that rewards repeated listens and encourages the imagination to run riot" BBC.com

"Teetering perpetually on the edge of creation, the result is a sort of rhapsodic minimalism, as magical in its own way as a ping-pong ball pirouetting on a jet of air" (4 stars)
THE INDEPENDENT (UK)

"Luxurious" (4 stars) THE TIMES (UK)

"Lush to the point of denseness, this is also The Necks at their most lyrical...After a Necks gig people are often overheard debating which CD to buy. I'd now recommend the luxuriant beauty of Townsville" SYDNEY MORNING HERALD



"DRIVE BY" POWERS ON

The Necks' album "Drive By" received great reviews and an Australian ARIA Award on its release in 2003. Five years on, it continues to catch people's ears in any number of ways - last year it was used in a contemporary dance work by The Australian Ballet, and gained a place in The Guardian's 1000 Albums To Hear Before You Die:


Only recently, in The Independent's Cult Classics column, Drive By was described as "paradigmatic of (The Necks') sound and the most accessible of their beautifully crafted albums...beckons the listener into its somnambulant, trance-like world"

Now, a five-minute chunk of Drive By is being used in a new dance piece, To Be Straight With You, by acclaimed UK dance company, DV8. To Be Straight With You played at the Adelaide International Festival of the Arts last month, where The Australian national newspaper described it as a "powerful theatrical statement". The piece is now touring the UK and other countries extensively. Details can be found at:

Townsville, Drive By and all The Necks' albums are available from all good record stores or at www.thenecks.com

Please be aware THE NECKS have updated info on their website.

www.thenecks.com

European tour coming up in Oct/November and exciting new live album entitled TOWNSVILLE.

Updates on this myspace shortly. Thanks for interest and attendence in the NECKS myspace, this 'fan' run site, aiming to appreciate the music of the Necks and research other artists with similar interests. All contributions welcome and the band can be contacted directly through their web site.

Regards.

Check out

http://myspace.com/thenownow

Monday, 26 February, 2007
the NOW now series 2007 #1: At the last bastion of civilization

A night of Sydney's (and Wollongong's{and Bowral's}) most exploratory drummers at an amazing new venue


Finn Ryan Robbie Avenaim Alex Masso
Simon Barker
Laurence Pike
Tony Buck
James Waples

the last bastion of civilization
suite 202 267-271 Cleveland St Surry Hills
8pm start, $8/$6 entry
Organized by Gabrielle Nicholson

Sorry about lack of notice Buck fans, I just found out. and can't make it (boo)...

Regards
Christian

OZ TOUR DATES ANNOUNCED:

The Necks have announced the following Australian tour dates for January -
February 2007:


JANUARY

Monday 8th to Wednesday 10th:

MELBOURNE, Corner Hotel

Tix $25 (+$2 booking fee), door price: $28 (if available), doors open 8.30
Corner Box Office (57 Swan St Richmond 12-8 Mon-Sat), phone bookings 9427
9198, online bookings www.cornerhotel.com


Saturday 13th to Tuesday 16th:

SYDNEY, Sydney Festival, The Famous Spiegeltent, Hyde Park North

Tix $35 (+ $3.20 booking fee), doors open 7:00 bookings 1300 888 412
www.sydneyfestival.org.au or Moshtix www.moshtix.com.au tel 02 9209 4614


FEBRUARY

Friday 16th:

CAIRNS, Tanks Art Centre

bookings www.ticketlink.com.au 07 4031 9555 doors open 7:00


Saturday 17th:

BRISBANE, Judith Wright Centre Of Contemporary Art

bookings (07) 3872 9000 www.jwcoca.qld.gov.au


Sunday 18th:

BYRON BAY, Cultural and Community Centre

02 6685 5659 www.heartofbyron.org.au

The first Necks recording ..Sex.. was released in 1989. It was one piece that went for about an hour and some 17 years later that record still sits uncomfortably in any one particular category of music. The Necks recordings and their live shows (sometimes discussed broadly but never planned in any formal sense) continue to combine the values of minimalism, serial music, soundscape and conventional forms, extended.

Lloyd Swanton (Bass) has been quoted saying that what they play is not very complex stuff. Further to which, if there was a moral import to performance The Necks represent a music that attempts to be progressive with out being ego laden.

Although I haven..t seen them naming live performances in a while Lloyd once called a piece ..Spare the rod and spoil the child, but don..t throw the baby out with the bathwater... That night Chris Abrahams (Piano) had planks of wood that covered different amounts of keys until he was hitting the whole 88 at once. The girl I was with told me that it was the closest thing she had ever heard that could describe the female orgasm. After an hour with the necks one might feel a little overwhelmed and sometimes confused, but always moved.

Chris once said to me that his playing was sometimes ..all fists and elbows.., something he thought critics might suggest. This I feel would be a gross understatement of his ability to use the piano as sound board creating overtones and envelopes of sound that reflect the transcendent nature of his melodic playing, which in itself is world class.

You may have worked out by now that I am not in the necks, but in telling you I am an advocate of the Necks I should explain my association past and present. I first saw the band in 1996 at the Basement in Sydney. I was amazed and couldn..t sleep that night. After the first night Tony Buck (drums) was sitting at the bar and after watching him play incredible drums non stop for an hour I approached him and said ..How do you prepare to do that, I mean an hour, non stop?... His reply ..I go out drinking till 6am with Chris.....

At twentyone I lived in Gosford where I had grown up and was trying to figure out a way out. This band had blown me away ascetically, and I could tell that in the concept that they had something more to say than most live performances in any form of music I..d ever seen. So I wrote them a letter which I put on stage before a show the next week. A few months later Tony wrote back to me from Berlin, discussing at length his thoughts about performance, the jazz and improvised music scene locally and internationally and finished his generous correspondence with a discography of his work (which had already been released and preformed in many countries) and long list of artists I should check out. Later Chris Abrahams called me up and I nervously went to his house. I fumbled my way though a conversation about our shared interest in 20th C European philosophy and whilst there he gave me a copy of a solo record of his from 1986 called ..walk... I was honoured and heard in that record of some of the concepts he brought to The Necks. Later I would help Tony recover his Ludwig drums, which had disappeared and were also a bit broken. I fixed the kit and then he flawed me by advising that when he was overseas I could hold on to the kit and use it whenever.

Although this story is a more than a little self indulgent, the point I would like to make is about time. In the very literal musical sense The Necks redefining of time is obvious, but subtly they bring the concept to their lives as artists. Notice the letter that showed up randomly months later, and think about the time it took from Chris.. solo record to the first Necks record, these days the time entire careers are marketed and spat out. After being told that they had been recording it was the next tour months later I saw Tony and asked how it was going? He told me they were mixing it. Another tour came by and he advised me it they had finished the artwork. Some months later (maybey two years or more from the tracking I guess), I asked when it would come out. He told me they were still coming up with a name, and I thought that said it all..


Regards,
Christian McBride.

And please note not that Christian McBride! I play drums and live in Australia, the amazing bass player Christian McBride is another guy.

www.myspace.com/christian_mcbride