Dear Friends

At last!! After much delay (none of which was my doing!!) the new album ‘Nevermore’ is now available. It is quite different in tone to its predecessor, ‘Re-Animator’, but I’m sure you’ll agree it’s just as strong. You will find a detailed description of it in the last newsletter (on www.paulroland.de) and some personal thoughts on the making of the album and much more in a recent interview for the German on-line music magazine nonpop (www.nonpop.de).

If you missed the last newsletter here is a brief extract from the ‘Nevermore’ press release to give you a hint of its contents:

“Poe provides the inspiration for the opening track - a potent sliver of psych-pop - and also for the manically menacing ‘Tell Tale Heart’ with its nod in the direction of the Addams Family. Other literary allusions include a three song suite inspired by Jules Verne’s ’20,000 Leagues Under The Sea’ entitled ‘The Last Voyage of the Nautilus’ which features an instrumental passage that might have served as the soundtrack for ‘Das Boot’ which Paul created in collaboration with Nico Steckelberg of German neofolk band Elane. Andrea Koslowsky, the female singer from Elane, also features on the album lending an ethereal quality to the other two components of the suite - ‘Captain Nemo’ and ‘The Wreck of the Nautilus’. Andrea’s otherworldly vocal embellishments also add to the atmosphere on ‘Ghost Dance’ (a haunting song about the lingering spirit of the Native Americans) and the evocative ‘Eight Little Whores’, an excursion into the gloomy labyrinthine alleyways of Victorian London in a darkly twisted street ballad lamenting the victims of Jack the Ripper. Other highlights include ‘Abramelin’, a wistful sojourn into the world of magic with a sorcerer’s apprentice (featuring the violin of Jenny Benwell former member of Marc Almond’s Marc and the Mambas) and ‘The Great Deceiver’ a retro rocker deploring religious fanaticism and hypocrisy that could have graced a classic 1970s hard rock album. But although many of the themes and music are quintessentially English, Roland evidently couldn’t resist exercising his characteristic black humour on quirky country rocker ‘Leatherface’, the “redneck runt of an inbred brood” from Tobe Hooper’s ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’! There is even a rousing traditional gallows song, ‘Sam Hall’ which invokes the Regency underworld Roland revisits periodically on his albums as if to exorcise the ghost of a previous life perhaps?” 

The official release date is October but the PRAS will have copies of ‘Nevermore’ for sale from August 22.

Also available now is the first of the re-issues, ‘Danse Macabre’/’Burnt Orchids’ which includes many subtly retouched tracks. It has also been tastefully re-mastered and comes with a very nice booklet designed by Ralf Schuessler with previously unpublished photos and lengthy notes by yours truly giving the background on the recording which I am sure you will find interesting.  

Next Reissue

The next planned re-issue is ‘A Cabinet of Curiosities’/’Happy Families’ + a bonus CD of the ‘Acoustic Radio Sessions’ (the mini LP that came with the original German edition of ‘Duel’) now re-mastered from the original DAT tape at the correct speed(!) and supplemented by other acoustic radio session tracks recorded at roughly the same time. So that’s another attractive package to look forward to – hopefully for December/January release.

‘Werewolf of London’ CD

Talking of re-issues, ‘The Werewolf of London’ limited edition CD went faster than the proverbial hot cakes. We have only a handful left now so if you want a copy, you’ll have to hurry.

German ‘Re-Animator’ CD

The same applies to the German edition of ‘Re-Animator’ which differed slightly from the original Italian edition. The Italian mastering was very bad (too much treble!). The mastering of the German edition was supervised by myself and includes a few bonus tracks (alternative mixes of ‘Abdul Alhazred’ and ‘Swamp Girl’ and a very slightly different mix of ‘Assassins’) plus an amended running order which sees the title track opening the album instead of ‘Charles Dexter Ward’ which now appears later in the running order. The first 500 copies also include a bonus sampler CD featuring one track from each of the reissues that are planned to appear over the next two years at the rate of one every three months or so.

Incidentally, those who would like to have only the retouched tracks or the rarer tracks can download these individually from AppleiTunes, www.CDbaby.com and other digital providers without having to buy the whole CD again.

METHODS OF PAYMENT

Price for all of the CDs is the same - 15 euros each inc postage within Europe and to the UK. Please allow 3-5 days for delivery to countries outside Germany and up to 21 days to USA and Australia. NOTE: If you order more than one copy of each CD all extra copies will be half price and no extra postage [eg One CD for 15 euros, Two CDs for 22 euros, Three CDs for 30 euros etc] so maybe you want to buy one for a friend, but these must be multiple copies of the SAME TITLE.

Payment can be made with a credit card via paypal using the NEW e-mail address p.roland@lycos.co.uk on the paypal website

OR by sending euros/cash to the NEW PRAS ADDRESS in Germany which is – PRAS c/o Postfach 111064, D-76060 Karlsruhe, Germany.

Free ‘Re-Animator’ Offer!

For those who already have the ‘Re-Animator’ album in one of its earlier incarnations you can claim a FREE copy of the German edition with the bonus CD simply by writing TWO short reviews of any Roland album or book for Amazon or CDbaby (www.cdbaby.com) or any other website and tell us where we can see these on-line. The reviews can be just a few lines and you can say what you like about the album or book.

Alternatively, you can post two ‘lists’ on Amazon including at least TWO Roland items (one in each list or more if you like) with or without a comment by each item. These lists act as recommendations for other Amazon customers who are looking to discover new albums, artists or authors and so are a great way to introduce others to the music or books that you like. So if you want to thank me for my music, this is the best way and I am happy to send you a free CD to reciprocate. Don’t forget to send your postal address with the link to the review so we can send you the CD.

German Promo Tour

There is some talk at the moment about a possible short German tour in October or November, but no definite dates. If anything is confirmed I will post details here so please check back on this site throughout September/October.

Greece

Back in March I had the honour to return to Greece and play an acoustic concert with my friends Jenny Benwell on violin and Ralf Jesek (guitar and keyboards). It was an absolutely delightful trip and a very memorable concert. The club was small but it was packed and the audience were very enthusiastic. I played a mix of old and new songs including acoustic versions of tracks from ‘Re-Animator’ and ‘Nevermore’ so they could hear that I was still active and not content to rely on past glories! I was very relaxed and enjoyed it immensely. The next day I gave a live-on-air interview to the national radio and played an acoustic version of ‘Re-Animator’. You can read more about the concert at Sasha Chattow’s website www.sashanonserviat.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html where you will also see a copy of the poster for the concert. Sasha was our host and co organiser with the club’s legendary DJ Captain Nick. Her comments made all the hard work worthwhile. 

 
Other sites which might be of interest

Thanks to the inexhaustible enthusiasm of fan Dexter there are now several video clips of an acoustic concert filmed at the Forum, Enger in Germany back in 1988 available to view for free on You Tube. Just visit www.youtube.com and type ‘Paul Roland’ in the ‘search’ box. There is also a clip of ‘Beau Brummel’ from an earlier tour on the same site which has been uploaded by someone else.

I recently recorded two audio interviews for www.paranormalcafe.com which might be of interest. The first centres on my ghost books, but ends with the interviewer asking me about my songwriting, while the second interview concentrates exclusively on my book ‘Nazis and the Occult’.

For information on my music and books you might care to look at www.wikipedia.co.uk and www.wikipedia.de where you can add anything you think might be useful for other visitors.

And finally, there is also a PR page on www.myspace.com where you can leave me messages and a PR forum at www.dunkelromantik.de
 
If the German tour goes ahead please come up afterwards and say hello afterwards. But if you can’t come, keep in touch by e-mail (rolandtowers@yahoo.co.uk). I’d love to hear from you.

P