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patrick wolf



Last Updated: 10/5/2009

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Status: Single
Country: UK
Signup Date: 12/22/2005

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Friday, October 30, 2009 
Hi gang...

Yes, that's right - Patrick will be releasing Damaris as his next single on December 14th! Please note the correct date for this release, as some blogs and newsfeeds have reporting the 15th and this isn't the case. Now! Onto those juicy details we know you love (we do too, goss-fiends that we are). Read on for info on the single itself, including how the song came to be written and in what formats you can grab it, bits and pieces about the b-sides and upcoming video, and some stuff on what Patrick's up to now and next...

God damned Damaris, killed with last kiss...





Patrick will be releasing this powerful and beautiful ballad that has been an international stand-out live anthem, performed over countless music festivals this summer. The song is semi- autobiographical and centred on the loss of love, but was also inspired by a tale discovered by Patrick when he went to seek out his English roots after a period of heartbreak and the ending of a relationship that was documented in the song The Magic Position.

Tracing the roots of his father under the family name Apps back to a family of ferret-catchers and blacksmiths in Brede, East Sussex, Patrick stumbled across a small wooden cross engraved with the name 'Damaris' among the gravestones of his ancestors...

From that moment, Patrick began to research who Damaris might be, and it came about that the wooden cross told a larger tale than anyone could have imagined. It is still unsure whether Damaris was a gypsy or a heathen, but she belonged outside of the Catholic church, who in 1880, held a very strict reign over romance and passion in such a small village. Damaris was most certainly not from the Catholic church, so when she fell in love with Lewis, the son of the Parish priest, she was denied of ever being united in marriage with him.

Patrick writes the song from the perspective of Lewis after discovering that Damaris has 'died of a broken heart', which, in the 19th Century was a polite term for either suicide, or a romantic notion that someone can be so heartbroken that they give up on life. The song is a musical iconisation of a true life Romeo and Juliet from Sussex. Two star-crossed lovers who were destined to be together, but were denied, due to the repression and sign of the times.

The church organ on the song, played by Patrick and the drums by Marcello Vig were both recorded in 2008 on location in St. George's Church, the very church ground where the romance took place a hundred years before between Damaris and Lewis.


B-sides

    Peacock Skies - programmed by Patrick during the Magic Position tour of 2007 in the Californian Desert somewhere between Las Vegas and San Francisco.
    Damaris (St. George's Church Acoustic Mix) - a special acoustic mix of Damaris, which highlights the amazing St. George's Church Organ and Patrick Wolf/Fiona Brice string arrangements in their full glory.
    Queen Isabella (The She-Wolf of France) - a truly gothic baroque harpsichord-driven fury of a song, written from the perspective of the legendary 'She-Wolf of France'. Isabella of France who was sworn into a marriage in her youth with King Edward the Second of England, who was reputed to be bisexual... The English people in the 16th Century branded her 'She Wolf'. Legend has it that her ghost still haunts the gardens of St. Paul's Cathedral, nearby to where Patrick lives.

The video

The video was directed by Patrick in collaboration with Director of Photography Rory Broadfoot. Patrick co-stars alongside the actress Gwendoline Christie, who can currently be seen playing Holly Go Lightly's glamorous neighbour in the hit West End production of Breakfast at Tiffany's, and also in the Terry Gilliam film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. The video is Patrick's visual interpretation of the passionate romance between Damaris and Lewis, shot on location at Blackdown, West Sussex. You'll be able to clap your peepers on it sometime in November, watch this space...


Formats, release date and preorder

DIGITAL
    Damaris
    Peacock Skies
    Queen Isabella (The She-Wolf of France)
    Damaris (St. George's Church Acoustic Mix)

7" VINYL
    A - Damaris
    B - Queen Isabella (The She-Wolf of France)

Release date: Monday 14th December, 2009
Preorder for 7" coming soon


Upcoming bits and bobs

As you know, Patrick will be playing his big bonkers theatre production special one off (phew!) show on the 15th of November, with a string sextet and choir at the London Palladium - home of the Royal Variety Show and many a true star. Special guests on the night include Marc Almond and Alec Empire as Patrick recreates the full luscious orchestral epic (phew again!) sound of The Bachelor and selected reinvented anthems from all four of his albums for one night only. It is set to be the most wonderful Patrick Wolf performance to date. Micachu & The Shapes have been confirmed as the support act. Are you going to be there? Check out these links to buy or win some tickets:


In addition, as described in our last mailout, Patrick has contributed to the Rankin Youth Music 'Destroy' Project and will perform at the launch event on Monday 9th November at Phillips de Pury Gallery, London. To be in with a chance to win tickets to this exclusive event, simply visit this link.

Following this, Patrick will take the stage at Oxford University to give a prestigious lecture and question and answer session for the Oxford Union. Previous guests include Michael Jackson and Stephen Hawking.

As if this wasn't enough (phew phew phew!), Patrick will then be jetting off to Japan, Australia and Brazil before the end of the year for some more fantastic live shows.

Bye for now...

Team Wolf x

PS: Don't forget you can receive news like this and much, much more by becoming a member of the official mailing list - simply visit this page to sign up!
8:35 PM 
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Thursday, October 15, 2009 
Hi,

We've extended the time limit for your opportunity to get the exclusive Wolf Song demo until Friday 16th October - that's one more day left!

To get your free demo, please visit: patrickwolf.com/wolfmail

Team Wolf x

PS: To those of you who have had problems with signing up to the new list, please message us on Myspace with your email address and we will be in touch. Thanks. xx
10:39 PM 
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Monday, October 12, 2009 
x to all those who marched and stood at the national equality march yesterday in DC x

You are true warriors of love and of the heart. Love is a force that sees no gender or sexuality. I believe you are right for being angry that Obama is putting his "land of the free" country to shame by not addressing the promises he made during his voting campaign. I think it is saddening that in the USA you have no form of "hate crime" laws. These laws, that filter down into the schools of your country through government education, forward thinking pro active support for those of us who still would love to marry and exist in peace be given the respect any decent human being deserves on this planet. I am not a citizen of america but I have an artist visa and I love my audience so very very much within every state I have visited and I have seen such an amazingly diverse spectrum of human beings being together in song at my concerts, yes, I guess I get to live in a form of utopia when I am onstage, but it shows that if you choose the right words and harmony you can make anything happen or change in this world. Obama should not be letting you down. He exchanged your vote for a promise and he should stick to it. I hope he will. It will be so sad to see equal rights time travel back to where the struggles started at stonewall or with the suffragettes, you may think i'm being dramatic, which yes, I often am, but im sat here cross legged infront of my laptop with my heart beating wishing i was there yesterday.. 

I have read so many letters over my years of touring america, when i get handed letters outside after a show from boys, girls, men and women across America telling me about how hard it is for them at school, or their work place that they have no support network, be it parental, governmental or often the right protection from police when needed. that music is their escape and inspiration. I would love that one day a gay couple kissing on any street corner only would get a shout of "get a room" not "it was adam and eve not adam and steve" or a teenage girl in a texas high school decided she wanted one day to be a man and could be supported in her journey to find herself not have her spirit and soul crushed by out of date laws and education systems or a boy can take his boy crush to the prom and no one like they did to me and this was just in maths class, stab the boy with a pair of compasses. I say this now just to raise awareness. This is how bad homo-phobia is in the school system. Its time to up-date the laws of humanity. We are constantly evolving creatures. Ok. Well I will leave it at that... but I dedicate these words I wrote now to all those who fight the good fight, protect their freedom and equality on this earth and help those around you who don't have theirs find it. I have changed the lyrics as I go on tour. It mutated into an anti Proposition 8 anthem for me halfway through the american tour this year.
I think it still very much is

Peace x Patrick 

BATTLE

Battle the patriarch
Battle for equal rights
Battle battle battle
Battle back your liberty
Battle the long night

Battle battle battle
It’s your time
To join the tribe
Yes it’s time
For some victory
Your time

If you’re sick
Of being a victim
Of their ignorance
Then
Battle the conservative
Battle for your
Battle battle battle battle
Battle the homophobe
But battle without war
Come on! 
battle
Battle, battle, battle

Battle the misogynist 
Battle for your
 
Victory 

Since I was 12
It’s been me
vs the world
I got so sick
Of being told
Our identities 
Were in minority
But now we’ve
Got tribe
And we’ve got
Some battle
And yes it’s time
Don’t you know it’s time
To g-g-g-g-g-get some victory

This is our battle

x
2:03 PM 
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Wednesday, October 07, 2009 
Evening all,
 
Team Wolf are always very busy behind the scenes and in recent times there's been no exception. For the past few months, we've been working on creating a brand new official mailing list, after encountering many a hiccup with the old system - we're sure you may have noticed ;) - but now we can finally announce the launch of Wolfmail version 2.0!
 
Sadly, with the way the old system works, we can't import any information about those of you who had signed up in the past over to the new system - in short, this means that if you'd like to be on the new official Patrick Wolf mailing list, you will have to sign up again. But wait, there's more! We're offering those of you who switch over to the new system a free gift... We've rooted around and dusted off an exclusive, never-before-released demo of Wolf Song, which you will be able to download once you have fully completed the sign up process. This free gift will only be available for ONE WEEK ONLY - so please be quick if you want to grab this lovely demo.
 
No more mails will be sent out via the old system, so if you want to keep up to date on all the latest Wolf news, gigs, exclusive offers, interviews, reviews and the like, please consider making the move with us to the new system. It promises to be much more efficient - meaning that not only can we get all the info over to you in a timely fashion, it will all be relevant to your interests and it will be local to you, so you won't receive info about gigs in Europe if you live in Australia, etc.
 
We hope that this will reduce a lot of frustration that we met when sending mails from the old system, not just on your part but on ours as well!
 
The new sign up link can be located here: patrickwolf.com/wolfmail
 
Remember, the offer of the Wolf Song demo is only available for ONE WEEK, so get registering and stay in the Wolf loop!
 
Love,
 
Team Wolf x
10:29 PM 
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Monday, October 05, 2009 
Hi there,

Music is power!

Patrick will be performing a stripped down set for Youth Music in London on the 9th of November and you could be in with a chance to win some VVVIP tickets - yes, that's right, VVVIP! ;) - to the event... Just tell Youth Music what your power song is and why music is powerful to you, it's that simple. Check out the competition page to enter.

Good luck!

Team Wolf x
7:18 PM 
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Wednesday, September 23, 2009 
Hi hi hi,

Patrick has very excitedly announced two very special guests that will be sharing the stage with him at the Palladium show in November - Marc Almond and Alec Empire!

He shared his comments:

“It is a total honour that I am able to duet with the legendary singer-songwriter, Marc Almond. To me, he is one of the most genius brave and passionate renaissance artists of the last three decades, a total inspiration. He has explored music from Russian folk to Gypsy to being a complete original electronic pop star in his work with Soft Cell.  I met Marc totally randomly last summer whilst finishing off "The Bachelor", he was moving into the house next door to mine and we bumped into each other on the street, me coming home with my groceries and him moving his furniture in. We hit it off immediately and he has since been a big support and encouragement to me over the last year. With Marc's amazing new album “Orpheus in Exile” just released and me closing “The Bachelor” album tour in the U.K at the Palladium, it seems perfect for our paths to cross now on-stage. We will be doing two songs together.. but time will tell what they may be. Hopefully one from each of our own songbooks.
 
The other fantastic guest will be Alec Empire, flying in from Berlin, we are still preparing our collaboration on the night but it will definitely be a live continuation of the work we have done together over the last two years, representing our co-writes and production on “The Bachelor” and perhaps one of the forthcoming songs from my next album "The Conqueror" . To me, Alec is one of the seminal revolutionary beat makers and noise makers around and as always it blows my mind to think we are working together now, when I think back to sneaking in with a fake ID to the London Astoria to see Atari Teenage Riot play, aged 14.”
 
In what is sure to be an exceptional evening, the Palladium date will act as the perfect celebration for Patrick and all of you, the fans, that have helped support the campaign. 
 
Tickets can be purchased from:
 
www.livenation.co.uk  Tel: 0844 576 5483
www.seetickets.co.uk Tel: 0844 412 4657

Love,

Team Wolf x
4:46 PM 
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Thursday, September 17, 2009 
Hiya,
 
You may have noticed that we've just announced some new tour dates, in places you might not have been able to catch the Wolf before - you can check them out either at the website or here on the Myspace. Dates include Florence, Prague, Helsinki, Sao Paulo and Australia - including Meredith Festival!

The European tour starts next week in Amsterdam - the dates will be supported by the swish Swedes, The Deer Tracks - check out their Myspace here. PLEASE NOTE: VENUE CHANGE FOR BERLIN - the Lido show in Berlin has now been moved to the much bigger Astra venue to accomodate for the huge demand of tickets.
 
Australian support TBC although we know the Brisbane show will be supported by Crocodiles - No Age love them, we love them too - and their Myspace is here.
 
Tickets for the much-anticipated Palladium show in London this November are going fast - if you want to see this extra-special concert then you'd better rush over to seetickets and grab the last few of these tickets before we completely sell out of them.
 
Speaking of extra-special, our typing fingers are really itching in anticipation to spill the beans about the exciting guests that are lined up for the Palladium show, and all we can say for the time being is that we'll be announcing them very very shortly, so stay tuned!
 
Patrick's been busy in the studio continuing work on The Conqueror - everything's coming together now, but you'll hear lots more updates from us in the near future on that and even more Bachelor-related goodies and fun coming soon, as well.

Don't forget you can follow Patrick on Twitter if you're not following him already - you can hear all his news, plans and thoughts first-hand and super-quick, too - just head on over to twitter.com/pw_official for updates.
 
Remember that Bebo competition to win a music lesson? Big big thanks to all of you who entered - your performances were honestly staggering, there's so many talented wolfies out there.. drum roll, please... We're now pleased to announce the winners! Huge congratulations to Jake Downs and Rajasri Narasimhan - you'll be hearing from us shortly with details about your music lesson with Patrick!
 
Before we go, we thought we'd share some lovely live photos with you - click the thumbnails. These were taken by Pim Top in Sweden for the Way Out West Festival last month. We think they're great - let us know your thoughts, we're sure Pim would love to know!




 
We'll be back soon with more info.
 
Team Wolf x
8:13 PM 
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Tuesday, September 15, 2009 
Hey hey,

Is file sharing legal? Patrick will be part of a debate on this topic on Radio 5 Live this evening (around 10pm-1am) with Richard Bacon. You can listen live here.

Cheerio,

Team Wolf x
3:05 PM 
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Tuesday, September 15, 2009 

Hello tribe-- I woke this morning to see Lilly Allens blog about the music industry and file sharing... 

Well, I try to maintain some kind of private life, but certain issues, when the message isn't coming across through all available media, have to be spoken about.

I think to myself that my money shouldn't really be any bodies business but I look at what I knew about the industry before napster- came along and it was a very respectable encouraging place where people on independent labels could live a good life and create great art and music and use the profit they made to invest in other talent or other future creative projects... some musicians were lucky to get a mortgage or if you were lucky and had been through the britpop days, you could buy a house. major labels and indie labels sat side by side quite comfortably. 

When my first album came out.. there was a whisper or jokes, but alot of speculation about what might happen in the future, what with file sharing and this new thing called myspace... I fast forward to 2009 and the only income any artist will see now is by doing live performances, I have friends who have been to number one for weeks on end and seen no profit due to marketing. Most major labels are in more debt than you can ever imagine. And its not very funny as all these people who work there (and there are many, many, many) are people with jobs who went to school like you and I did and wanted to work and earn a living. I still don't understand how spotify is meant to make up for this, I don't know anyone who has actually bought an account. When theres no money coming in.. then no body gets paid... then no one can pay their bills and then you are homeless.... its very hard for everyone right now in the current economic climate and I have total sympathy with all of you, but im making a plea on behalf of all the fantastic musicians and people within this fabulous industry which was built at the end of the day, not to make money off you but to inspire you... what is life without music??  

I don't have a liberace helicopters and limousine lifestyle. I'm currently deciding wether i spend the last of my earnings this year from touring on recording the string and choir section of my new album or on the rent until december, just an example of how alot of other musicians have it. I dreamt as a teenager I would be able to buy a house one day, somewhere peaceful so that i could focus on writing and composing and perhaps set up a gorgeous studio with all the instruments I have collected to record and produce other bands. in the early 2000's it seemed likely but file sharing means that most musicians will probably just make ends meet their whole life now and most musicians dreams will have to be put aside for need for part time work and doing the odd gig and free download only single made on garageband.

As musicians, to make big and small music, we all have other musicians to pay and crew to pay and managers and on top of that lawyers and accountants.... if you don't pay for music, how can the musicians of tomorrow and of today survive and learn our craft. In my 7 years in this biz I have seen countless record companies fold and recording studios close and sold for real estate to make a luxury apartment complex. For instance, the townhouse, a legendary studio in shepherds bush where I mastered wind in the wires and the magic position had to close down because record companies cant afford to put bands into studios and get them playing with beautiful acoustics and great sound engineers and vintage gorgeous mixing desks and grand pianos. When I was last at Abbey road studios, I was told by a mastering engineer that it was close to being turned into a museum because there is no REVENUE in the music industry because in the last 5 years people have stopped buying music. Please.... Even if you just go out and buy your favorite Joni Mitchell album on Cd or Buy a Bob Dylan Vinyl from HMV or FOPP something. Think of the music industry like a food chain.... it goes right from  from madonna, elvis to beyonce right down to the boy behind the counter at hmv via billions of peoples wages.....

I would also like to tip my hat to music retail too... I am so sad there are no more record shops in London. my church used to be a place called tower records, picadilly circus, and every sunday I would go to pray at the alter of the listening post. There are no part time saturday jobs "at the record store" for anyone now.. the U.K is a sad place in 2009 I think. Sorry to sound depressing, but i think it really is time we as musicians spoke out more about these issues, I have been really inspired by Lilly writing the below piece on her blog. I can only do my best in saying I am on the same ship as you all and the ship is sinking, sinking.... But what is life without hope!! Lets start a new future... think about where all the lovely music comes from... Do what you can to protect the music you love, invest in physical purchases, think about the machinery that goes on behind making your favourite band so fabulous and inspiring.... and how they should be able to make a living as well as you too... There really is a need to call an end to the bling bling flash in the pan soulless simon cowell world of money rubbish. I beg of channel 4 or BBC one to bring back a TV show that shines a light on new talent. Lily.. take it away,,,,, 

xx patrick wolf 

Lily allens blog.........

"I havent written on here for a while but I've taken the time to write this as I  think music piracy is having a dangerous effect on British music, but some really rich and successful artists like Nick Mason from Pink Floyd and Ed O'Brien from Radiohead don't seem to think so. Last week in an article in the Times these guys from huge bands said file sharing music is fine. It probably is fine for them. They do sell-out arena tours and have the biggest Ferrari collections in the world. For new talent though, file sharing is a disaster as it's making it harder and harder for new acts to emerge. Heres a link to the article http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6828262.ece
Mason, O'Brien and the Featured Artists Coalition say that file sharing's "like a sampler, like taping your mate's music", but mix tapes and recording from the radio are actually very  different to the file sharing that happens today. Mix tapes were rubbish quality - you bought the real music, because you liked the track and wanted to hear it without the DJ cutting off the end of each song. In digital land pirated tracks are as good quality as bought tracks, so there's not a need to buy for better quality. The Featured Artist Coalition also says file sharing's fine because it "means a new generation of fans for us". This is great if you're a big artist at the back end of your career with loads of albums to flog to a new audience, but emerging artists don't have this luxury. Basically the FAC is saying 'we're alright, we've made it, so file sharing's fine', which is just so unfair to new acts trying to make it in the industry.
You don't start out in music with the Ferraris. Instead you get a huge debt from your record company, which you spend years working your arse off to repay. When you manage to get a contract, all those pretty videos and posters advertising your album have to be paid for and as the artist, you have to pay for them. I've only just finished paying off all the money I owe my record company. I'm lucky that I've been successful and managed to pay it back, but not everyone's so lucky. You might not care about this, but the more difficult it is for new artists to make it, the less new artists you'll see and the more British music will be nothing but puppets paid for by Simon Cowell.
And it's not like there aren't alternatives to illegal downloads anyway. Sites like Spotify give us access to new music and different music without having to rip someone off - you can listen to tracks and see if you like them before you buy them. Then obviously there's MySpace, that streams music and helps acts like me get enough fans to convince record companies to sign us up.
If this sounds like I'm siding with the record bosses, I'm not. They've been naive and complacent about new technology - and they've spent all the money they've earned on their own fat salaries not industry development. But as they start to lose big from piracy, they're not slashing their salaries - they're pulling what they invest in A&R. Lack of funds results in A&R people not being able to take risks and only signing acts they think will work, which again makes British music Cowell puppets.
Is this the way we want British music to go? Now, obviously I'm going to benefit from fighting piracy, but I think without fighting it, British music is going to suffer.
I don't think what's out there is perfect. It's stupid that kids can't buy anything on the internet without credit, forcing them to steal Mum's credit card or download illegally. It's this kind of thing that the record company bosses, artists, broadband providers and government should be sitting down and discussing. I'm off to South America on tour today, but i'm going to be writing British artists, saying just this.
File sharing's not okay for British music. We need to find new ways to help consumers access and buy music legally, but saying file sharing's fine is not helping anyone - and definitely not helping British music. I want to get people working together to use new digital opportunities to encourage new artists." Lilly Allen


6:03 AM 
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Monday, September 14, 2009 
This December sees the return of the infamous Patrick Wolf to your shores, to celebrate the release of his latest album, The Bachelor.
 
Patrick will not only be playing the mighty Meredith Festival but also a string of headline dates in Brisbane, Perth, Sydney and Melbourne.  Of course, now that Meredith is COMPLETELY SOLD OUT – these side shows will be the only way to see him play live this time round.
 
Visceral, impulsive, antagonistic and unique; the list of superlatives and adjectives for this young man and his music go on ad infinitum. Never one to conform to artistic nor industry status quo, young Master Wolf could rightly claim pole position at the vanguard of avant-garde pop. His wonderfully wilful compositions and forays into the glamorous aesthetic of leather, chains, glitter and feathers only exalt the kind of compelling self- awareness we find so irresistible.
 
With his newest offering, The Bachelor, the British sprite has flown even more daringly in the face of convention. Part one of a double album this is Patrick nearing his full powers, and preaching his passions from the pulpit.  His is authentic, adventurous and fearless writing.
 
Oh yeah, and for those Brisbanites who couldn't get to Meredith, Speak n Spell is doing our darnedest to bring Meredith to them by including another of the Victorian festivals billings.

San Diego's (No Age's favourite band) Crocodiles are playing as Patrick’s very special main support!!!  That is pretty awesome!

Let the chaos begin.

ON SALE NOW:

Wed 09 December: Sydney - The Metro 
Tix: www.metrotheatre.com.au

Thu 10 December: Brisbane - The Zoo  (support by Crocodiles)
Tix: Oztix, www.thezoo.com.au, Rockinghorse Records

Fri 11 December: Victoria - Meredith Festival

Mon 14 December: Melbourne - Prince of Wales 
Tix: Missing Link, Polyester Records (City and Fitzroy), Greville Records, www.princebandroom.com.au, phone bookings (03 9536-1168)

ON SALE Friday Sept 18:

Sat 12 December: Perth - The Capitol
Available from: www.moshtix.com.au www.bocsticketing.com.au  www.78records.com.au

Lots of love,

Aussie Team Wolf (at Speak n Spell) x
6:41 PM 
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