ALBUMS, T-SHIRTS


BUY IT DIGITAL:

http://ax.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/browserRedirect?url=itms%253A%252F%252Fax.itunes.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZStore.woa%252Fwa%252FviewAlbum%253Fi%253D329221208%2526id%253D329221127%2526s%253D143444%2526uo%253D6

BUY IT REAL:

http://store.scratchthatrecords.com/

http://www.piccadillyrecords.com/ver2/search1.php?new=1&search=Rook+And+The+Ravens

and from shows. 

amazing vintage-look distressed TSHIRTS from

http://store.scratchthatrecords.com/

xxxx

Hullo.  As you are no doubt aware, out debut album "Sixteen Holes in Sixteen Souls", (twelve fresh cuts of decent crunchy alt-country/pop/indie rock perfection) is available to buy. 

Physical Copies available from:

Piccadilly Records, Manchester (mail order too!):
http://www.piccadillyrecords.com/ver2/search1.php?new=1&search=Rook+And+The+Ravens

Our merch stand at shows


Digital Copies

iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=329221127&s=143444

We will also have assorted wearable items available online shortly, although only from our merch stand at the moment.

ALSO

WE'RE PLAYING LOADS OF FREE SHOWS IN MCR THIS WEEKEND FOR IN THE CITY.  GET INVOLVED.  

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hello, the lovely Sam Walker over on BBC RM has been playing us on her Introducing show.  On Sunday night she played three tracks from our debut album - and talked us up a lot.  Cheers!

Anyway, you can listen again: http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/manchester/hi/people_and_places/music/newsid_8278000/8278504.stm

In other news, the album launch is pretty much sold out.  See some of you in London on Friday!

x

Hello.

The news you've all been waiting for.  We are launching our debut album at the beginning of October with two special shows, one in Manchester and one in London.



THURSDAY OCTOBER 1ST
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 3

ROOK AND THE RAVENS
+
Ten Bears
Gideon Conn
King Vulture

Tickets for this are strictly limited, so seeing as they've just been put online grab yourself 8 and we'll see you down the front. 

Here's the link to buy from:

http://www.seetickets.com/see/price.asp?filler3=id1safe&code=414128

inc. bk. fee = £7.25


FRIDAY OCTOBER 2ND
LONDON THE FLY

ROOK AND THE RAVENS
+ support

Tickets strictly limited to 140, get on it now here:

http://www.seetickets.com/see/price.asp?code=410611&userid={CBF3BDE9-ECF7-4509-A598-E4DCF2391058}&filler1=see&filler2=art-srch&filler3=id1safe

inc. bk. fee = £6.25

BARGAINS!

Yo.   Thought I'd knock together a little FAQ.  Hope it answers all your questions. 

Q. "What are you up to at the minute?"
A.  Tom is locked in 11th-hour contract negotiations beneath the City of Westminster doing his best to move into a new flat, James is teaching fingers on frets, Joe is laughing at insurance claims, Dave is planning, and I'm listening to heartland rocker Bruce Springsteen and his reformed E-Street Band return at Madison Square Garden for some classic pruning during 2001.  In terms of the band, we're limbering up for the Wychwood Festival this weekend. 

Q.  "When are you coming back to Georgia?"
A.  This summer hopefully.  August perhaps.  We love you all. 

Q.  "When can I hear the album?"
A.  When we've found a suitably fair way to release it. 

Q.  "Will you play my Luncheon Club's 2nd Annual Christmas Silence in 2013?"
A.  Talk to us.  We'll play anywhere as long as there's enough money/gifts to fuel ourselves and the van, the crowd get value for money and we aren't playing the same venue 12 horus later.  Don't contact us if you want us to sell 50 tickets to our friends and take a more than hefty cut for yourself.  We can do that ourselves in Glossop. 

Q.  "Is there anything exciting in store for this summer?"
A.  Look at the gigs list!  Just look at it!  In all it's exciting glory.  Festivals.  One-offs.   We're going to be celebrating having some CDs printed with preview tracks from the album on them by launching them from a cannon on Friday 5th June at The Crystal Ballroom in our hometown of Glossop.  Maybe we'll play another "exciting" mental rave in a camouflaged tent in some woods.  We'll definitely be having a summer of fizzy and flat alcoholic apple juice and crepes with suitably bohemian ingredients spent in fields up and down the UK. 

Q.  "Explain Helenio Herrera's "catennacio" system to me."
A.  Basically it's a defensive tactic he developed and used at Internazionale during the 60s.  It is noticeable for its deployment of a sweeper (libero) in a sort 1-4-4-1 formation.  Herrera intended the full-backs in his formation to operate more like wing-backs so that after soaking up opposition pressure, his team's counter-attacks were devastating.  However, that part of the tactic was neglected as it became bastardized throughout Italian teams, and indeed the national team, leading to the tactic's repuatation of being completely negative or defensive and being associated particularly with technically inferior sides.  Key features included man-marking and strong tackling.  Over the years it has fallen into less regular use by top sides, who instead tend to operate systems similar to Total Football.  In a very ill-informed nutshell.  Hope that clears everything up.

Q.  "Rook and The Ravens seem to have upped their online presence over the last few weeks.  I'm so behind!  Can you recap for me?"
A.  Sure.  We've now got accounts and content on the following important pages:

FACEBOOK
YOUBLOOM
YOUTUBE
TWITTER
MYSPACE
LAST.FM


Just go to each website and search for us, or use the links on the left hand side of our myspace page underneath the flickr slideshow. 

Q.  "Can I have a free CD?" 
A.  If you make the effort to come all the way to a show and see us if we're playing in or near your town then yes.  If it's unlikely we'll get to your town we can probably post you one, but we really don't have that many to just give away, we're supposed to be selling them really. 

Q.  "What is your take on the expenses scandal?"
A.  I need to go and phone the chap who clears out my moat and re-feathers my archery arrows.  I'll chat another time.  Bye.

Christmas Day was a little bit different this year for us... instead of lounging around watching the usual Richard Curtis-based Christmas entertainment surrounded by Fruit Pastilles and bubblewrap, four of us mounted a winged beast and flew to Istanbul. And then Tbilisi.

We arrived at Tbilisi International Airport at 5am Georgia time, and waited for our bags. Everyone who'd been on our flight crowded around the conveyor belt in expectation. About six bags came out, briefly paraded around and then vanished. The conveyor belt stopped and an official-looking Georgian said something which had the effect of producing a massive strop from one woman in particular and a rolling of the eyes from everybody else and a sort of general movement of everybody towards the lost and found desk where we eventually worked out that they'd lost all our bags between Istanbul and Tbilisi. Somewhere in mid-air presumably as I was actually sitting above the baggage hold doors and saw our gear get loaded on... the upshot was that after some diversion tactics by airport staff involving making everybody fill out forms the conveyor belt started up and everybody's baggage rolled out. very strange.

Then we met our hosts from Step Records, Vaho, Lasha and Anna... and began our Best Adventure Ever.

Georgia blew our minds. The hospitality and friendliness of the people is amazing, we were taken from hotel to gig to lavish banquet to party to hotel to gig without a hitch and experienced what this beautiful country can offer. the gig itself was in dramatic surroundings: a stage penned in at the bottom of an ancient cobbled street, with no roof and no back so our backdrop was a stunning view of an ancient church perched high above the city's river, its golden cross permanently glinting. georgia seemed to love us and there were at least 600 people out in the cold, drinking and dancing their way into the night.

We actually ended up playing again, on the Sunday night two days later - in these two days we'd become almost famous i guess - the crowd was bigger and started chanting for us before we came on and also chanted for Alpha all the way through our set! We decided to give our CDs away for free, we needed to give them something back!

The harsh reality hit home over dinner on Sunday night. 400 Georgian guys like the guys who were our hosts, like us, like you had died for their country in the war last year. It is like England being at war with Wales, there are friends and family and all sorts over the border in Russia, and politics mean, in the words of our host: "we have to do what is necessary for our country".

ANYWAY, we left having had an unbelievable time, and we will be back again! Thank you for all the messages on our myspace from Tbilisi, we would love to reply to them all but we're all so busy with recording the album that we probably won't get round to it... we love you all x

NEW YEAR, and back to Blighty and to Glossop Rock City for our annual knees-up at The Moon and Sixpence - apologies for the fancy dress we appeared in after midnight... it was supposed to be something like village people meets Will Young. I think we failed. Regardless, a mint night was had by us and everyone there I think.

Presently, I am typing this to you from next to the control room where Joe is laying down some guitar overdubs... we've got all the drums down for all the songs that are going to be on the album, most of the bass and a good guitar track on each. Not bad for three days work!

Anyway, hopefully we'll keep everybody updated and suchlike... happy new year and all that.

Kev, Hadrian, Bernard, Worral and Linford's Dad.

x

In the blog introducing Tom, I likened a bad debut to Massimo Taibi's for Manchester United.  I am of course vastly wrong.  Taibi actually had a good game despite missing a punch resulting in Liverpool's Sami Hyypia (wearing number 12 that day) scoring.  Luckily though, he then went on to pull off a string of fine saves to help United to a 3-2 victory. 

Interestingly, maurading left wing back (as he was back then) Mikael Silvestre was also given a baptism of fire in this match.  Perhaps Patrice Evra will show up at Summer Sundae.  Who knows. 

Hopefully Tom's third gig won't be like the ill fated Taibi's Old Trafford nightmare against Matt le Tissier's Southampton, which interestingly ended 3-3.  Taibi's last match for Manchester United was a 5-0 loss at Stamford Bridge.