Apologies for the long delay in up dating the news section.. It's been a busy summer!! Hope you've all had a blast at this years festivlas and made the most of the sunshine.. We certainly did when performing at some excellent festivals around the UK.

For the most part we've been back in the studio recording our third album. We won't give away too much about the songs we're recording so far as the album will not be with you until April 2015 and we'll give you more details about the recordings/players and vibe to the record as the release date approaches.   

We're really looking forward to the next shows we have planned for you. We will be joining Seth Lakeman on his 'Word of Mouth' Tour for a stripped back acoustic support set. This is an excellent run of shows set in beautiful venues around the UK. We caught Seth and his band this summer and they were truley excellent. Don't miss these shows. Check out the venues and tix availibilty here

We are delighted to be supporting Deacon Blue on their 'A New House' UK tour. This is a full band support tour in some excellent venues throughout the UK. Deacon Blue have just released 'A New House' and have been extreamly generous in inviting us to open up the shows for them and giving us our first full band UK tour. Ticket info here

 

We look forward to performing for you this winter!! Z&P xx

Hey, thanks for stopping by.. We hope the start of 2015 has brought good things your way so far!
We've had a very busy and productive last few months here, recently for the most part we've been creating and recording our next album. You may have caught the two singles during Autumn/winter last year we released, 'These Blurred Lines' and 'We Are One'. Around this time we also achieved a life-long dream of ours and pressed our last album 'Lifebringer' to vinyl! We painstakingly put together a deluxe, Limited Edition 500 only Hand-numbered 180g Vinyl package together. Not seen it???? Check it out here and order your copy, before they disappear forever!

Pre-order new album Abstract Heart

Anyways you'll be pleased to know that our latest album is now complete, titled 'Abstract Heart' and is due for release this coming spring, Pre-orders are now available from our own store HERE or Amazon HERE and Digital Pre-orders Here

Needless to say we're very proud of the album and we can't wait to get it out there for you all to hear. Just like 'Lifebringer' its also 11 tracks in length (ours go all the way to eleven ;-) and CD versions will be housed in a deluxe gatefold mini-LP type sleeve. 

Its been quiet a journey making this record and we can let you in on the process and what you can look forward to in April. The album was born on a short tour we went on to India with our band. India was such a spiritual place brimming with life and being so far away from home it started us on a journey of reflection. As fans of Lifebringer will know the songs provided an escape from reality, we had had a period of difficulty in our personal lives, dealing with some of the toughest situations we've had to deal with, we escaped into Lifebringer. Abstract Heart is very much a personal and more intimate album for us. We feel very proud of the album and we are hoping you we see reflections of your own lives in the songs and that you'll enjoy it as much as our previous albums.

Most of the album was written in Los Angelis where we had an amazing trip that was inspiring for us musically and we were able to make a start on he recordings. We were writing during the days and taking in shows at night. We were lucky enough to catch CS&N, John Mayer, Neil Young, David Crosby (performing CROZ), Jimmy Webb... as you can imagine we were fired up to write.

We were lucky enough to catch three of Crosby's shows at the infamous Troubadour club and we were introduced to Croz and his band and got the chance to hang out and get to know everyone. We instantly hit it off with Marcus Eaton (guitar) an amazing guitar player and songwriter also. We spent some time hanging out at Marcus's home playing each other new ideas and talking music. We're thrilled to have Marcus guest on the album on the opening track Miller.. Check out Marcus Eaton HERE

   

Back stage meeting David Crosby at The Troubadour having just watched the CROZ full band show. Check out David's excellent album CROZ Here  These CROZ shows were stunning and for long time fans of Davids songwriting we were blown away to meet the man himself. We were in good company as back stage all the legends had turned out for the show, Ringo Star, Joe Walsh, Jackson Brown and country rock legend Chris Hillman (Flying Burrito Brothers, The Byrds, Manassas) joined the band on stage.

 

 

The first recording session we undertook was with friend of the band Matt Malley (Counting Crows former bass player) at Matt's Thousand Oaks Studio LA. It was the perfect way to start the recording. Matt could not be a more generous host and before we got down to recording we spent a long time talking about British Folk bands we all love and working out the approach for the song. Matt added Indian slide guitar to the final song on the album Celestial Friends, providing a beautiful backdrop to a song that explores the dimensions of the spirit world and the close links between this life and the next.

With a now complete batch of new songs we headed back to the rural mid Wales to get back to our band. We were all fired up to lay down the new songs. Heading to Giant Wafer Studios (Wales Big Pink) we spent a frantic 72 hours recording/partying/recording with Llion Robertson engineering and Jack and Andrew laying down the live rhythm tracks. 

 

From here Paul and I set to work laying down acoustic and electric parts, synths, recording and re-recording, bringing in Simon Kingman for electric parts and Paul Jones on synths. Bringing in friends Krissy Jenkins and Lee Goodall for a percussive backdrop and long time collaborator John Thomas for a guest slot.

The final guest to appear on the record was Robbie McIntosh (Paul McCartney/John Mayer) We'd hooked up with Robbie at Celtic Connection in Scotland in January 14. We connected over music and it soon became clear that we share a similar approach to music. Robbie's own songs are very harmonic and melodic and after swapping albums we invited Robbie to join us for a song called 'Reach Out'. We can't wait for you all to hear the recordings, we feel sure your going to love them. Check out Robbie's new EP Let's Put It All Together Now HERE

We've had a amazing time making this record, we'd like to thank our band and Llion Robertsons (engineer/mixing/production)  and the guests that have thrown themselves into the album. We are forever grateful!

 

Here's a first look a the surreal cover art designed by Sammy Slabbnick.

 

Please follow the link to check out how a sample of the music from Abstract Heart .. http://youtu.be/Vw0OAXhl8g0

 

 

 

Despite being extremely cold, wet and VERY windy 2014 kicked off with a great run of live shows for Z&P. We're were honoured to be included in the incredible line up for Scotlands annual 'Celtic Connections' Festival held in and around the best venues and concert Halls in Glasgow. The first up was CC's 'Roaming Roots Revue', This year (to our utter delight) the theme was 'California Dreaming' a night of music celebrating the Laurel Canyon sounds of the late 60's/early 70's. The show was curated and led by Scottish Legends 'Roddy Hart and The Lonesome Fire' and was held at The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. The audience were treated to performances from Dawes, Cory Chisel, Lindi Ortega, The Webb Sisters, Roddy Woomble, Siobhan Wilson, Lau, Rod Jones and Zervas & Pepper. We spent the night at the side of the stage taking in the show, And as you can imagine, we had an absolute blast! A dream gig for us! It was so great to hear the music of James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Judee Sill, Warren Zevon, The Bryds, Eagles, Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, Crosby,Stills and Nash, Little Feat played out by such incredible players. We performed an acoustic medley of Joni's 'Woodstock' and CSNY's '4+20', Our own 'Ghost Dancer' and joined the band for versions of 'Eagles' Take it Easy' and Stephen Still's 'Love the one you're with'. The vibe backstage was electric and we can't thank Roddy and the crew enough for bringing us on board for the show. Check out the great poster for the night below.

Here's a Review of the night: Celtic Cennections- Roaming Roots Revue- California Dreaming

 

 

Next we boarded a very small prop plane (on a very windy morn) and headed over to Ireland for our debut live shows on the 'Emerald Isle', it was white knuckles all round as we landed in Dublin, But the warmest of Irish welcomes soon had us forget the wobbly journey kicking off with a Live Radio session with RTE's John Murray Show, a great intimate acoustic show in Galways 'Roisin Dubh', A session for Bray's 'East Coast Radio' and finally finishing up in Dublin's 'Sugar Club' where we met and performed for so many great new listeners.

A big thanks to RTE 1 who playlisted two singles from Lifebringer and cited the album as their 'Album of the week'. We very much hope to head back to Ireland later in the year for more shows.

Back on the wobbly prop to Scotland for more Celtic Connections dates, Next up we went live From the CCA on Glasgow's Sauciehall Street and joined 'My Darlin Clemintine', 'Blue Rose Code' and Aoife O'Donovan for an 'in the round' session for BBC Scotland's Ricky Ross's 'Another Country' Show. This was an excellent 'Songwriters Circle' type performance broadcast live in front of a studio audience. Check out pics here: BBC Gallery

Then on to a headline show at Edinburghs 'Voodoo Rooms', The excellent Adam Holmes opened up the night and set the tone for a great gig. Big thanks to all that came along, big shout out all who travelled to be there!

We then travelled back to Glasgow on another horrendous flight (plane blown around like a leaf in the wind, Terror only lightened by a certain star of 'Cracker'sat next to us providing quips as everyone including the staff hung on for dear life!)  for Mark Radcliffe's BBC Radio 2 Folk Show 'Live from Celtic Connections'. We were joined on stage by folk legends Seth Lakeman, Lisbee Stainton and Rab Noakes for another 'Live in the round' performance. Catch the show here .Sadly the day of the show it was announced that legendary Folk pioneer Pete Seeger had passed away, we all felt it would a nice idea to collaborate on and celebrate Petes contribution to popular music with a song he help to popularise.... Listen Here The night ended with an epic CC mash up in the hotel bar witnessing some of the UK's finest folk artists doing their thing in spectacular fashion! We haven't enough good things to say about this festival, If you haven't been yet.... Get your tickets in for 2015!

Our last show for Celtic Connections was at the beautiful Oran Mor in Glasgow supporting Kevin McDermot and Robbie McIntosh to a sold out crowd. Local Legend Kevin had the audience singing along all night whilst Robbie Mcintosh played some of the tastiest electric guitar we've ever heard! (He's also a axeman for Paul McCartney and John Mayer...Gulp!) A great night and a big thanks to the guys for having us on board. After the show we headed back to London on the rickety Caledonian sleeper train to meet the band (Orient express it ain't!).

Finishing a busy run of dates and with the onset of a bad cold for Paul, were two full-band line up shows at 'The Lexington' London and 'The Glee Club' in Cardiff. Here's some reviews of the shows The Lexington  The Glee Club , Again we're blown away by how many of you travelled to join us for these gigs, many of you went out of your way to catch these performances and we massively appreiciate it!

We're now currently writing material and preparing to record our next album release... We'll keep you all posted with any shows/events as they come in via our mailing list.. Sign Up Here..  and thanks for dropping by :-)

Z&P

Happy New Year!!

 

It's fair to say that 2013 has been an amazing year for Z&P! From the 1st of Jan 2013 we headed into the studio with both our band and engineer and just 6 weeks later we we were sending 'Lifebringer' out the press to gauge their reaction. We were delighted to find they were right behind us and can't thank all the journalists and media that shouted about the album enough. Radio support for the release continued and we had our first national playlisting which brought many new faces to our shows when we ventured out on our first headline tour across the UK. 

There's been so many highlights to the year from playing at Radio 2's Live in Hyde Park to traveling to India with our band for the NH7 Festivals. Its been a pleasure heading out on the road for acoustic shows and summer festivals, We've really enjoyed meeting and performing for our audiences. We really hope we can continue to bring the music to your home town.

So if you've told a friend/ tweeted about the band/ dropped us a line on FB, turned up at a show or bought an album, Thank you!!! We have now started the process of writing our next record and we're determined to make the best music we can for you guys.

Here's to 2014! Let's dream big and make good stuff happen :)

Have a happy and prosperous New Year!

From all the crew at Z&P XX

We're now back home and rested after performing what were to be our first ever international shows in Bangalore, Mumbia and Delhi. We had an amazing first trip to India and just loved meeting and playing for the audiences out there. Read on for a brief run down of what we got up to in the East!

So after a nine hour flight from a bitterly cold London (On which we headed to the the sounds of 1969's 'Lord Sitar performs The Beatles' to get us in the mood) we arrived in Bangalore very early morning, just before dawn. It was great to ditch our winter coats, Even in the cooler air of the night, India was indeed hot, And the further North we went it got even hotter again, Roll on our Indian Summer!!

We then got our first glimpse of India during our Taxi ride from the airport to the hotel. Just as the sun rose in the sky, Tall palm trees, Rolling green fields and farms gave way to bustling traffic, Tuk Tuks, Colourful Markets, Crowds of people lining the streets, Wandering Cattle, Lavish ornate shrines and temples, delapidated buildings, Shanty Towns and finally in the distance the Billboard strewn, high rise city scape at the heart of Bangalore, We'd Arrived!!!

A hefty day of taking in the sights ensued, Sampling the local cuisine (SPICY!!!!) and an epic mash up at 'Jimi's Bar'(yes, That Jimi) (A 'Hair Rock' Club where classic rock vids blast out on big screens non stop, Where Beer and nachos are served till you drop!).

Our first show took us to the first of the NH7 Festivals, The site was an hours drive outside of Bangalore centre to much greener part of the city. After an early morning soundcheck, we were scheduled to play that evening so had time to kill, but would you believe it, Despite being clear sunshine all morning, the heavens suddenly opened just after soundcheck and and non-stop heavy rain ensued... all day... We'd brought our weather with us it seemed!!! So our slot on the uncovered 'Other stage' had to be canceled and was rescheduled to the following day and we'd been relocated to the one of the bigger Main Stages.... Boom! And on that day, The blazing sun shone bright in the sky as we stepped on the stage to perform. And even though our music was largely unfamiliar with most of the festival goers, It went down great! Most folk seemed to need a good chill down after hearing many hard rock/metal bands that day, And our set did just that. We met and chatted with lots of our audience after the show, We felt immediately at home in such a good atmosphere, We were followed on stage by our fellow travellers 'Dry the River', We watched them perform an awesome set before heading home. Big thanks to all that came to watch us play and to say hi. Bangalore was a great place/gig to start the trip! One down, Two to go...

 

 

Our first internal flight took us to Mumbai (or Bombay, As the local hipsters still insist on calling it). From the locals in Bangalore we learned that this place was a different ball game altogether, They were not wrong... Bombay was a shock to all the senses! It was Bangalore x 10, More people, More traffic, more buildings, more noise! We counted 7 people (yes 7!) clinging to a small Tuk, Tuk going flat out on the motorway, 11 people crammed into a tiny fiat panda sized car (they even smiled and counted for us as we passed).Every car journey we took was like 'The Wacky Races' and we loved it! Never a dull moment! And our drivers were always great guys, Full of info and witty tales. Once the initial shock wore off, We found Mumbai to be a city bursting with life and now we had a good chance to do some exploring, So we checked out some amazing places such as The Gateway of India, Mahalaksmi Temple, Marine Drive, The slum Laundries (alarming yet a truly amazing sight) and the former home of Mahatma Gandhi which gave us much food for thought especially when we spent some time chatting with some street kids outside. This turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. Even the poorest locals are kind and high spirited even when they have so little. We headed back to the hotel armed with cool trinkets we'd bought from the street kids, Each one with a memory of the cool little character we'd bought them from. Everyone we knew who'd been to India assured us we'd fall in Love with the place and by now we had. Especially the people. That night we headed to the stunning venue The Blue Frog for our next show. We'd heard great things about the venue and it didn't disappoint. It's sound system and acoustic design was incredible! This was a free show and the locals trickled in, by the end of the night the venue was packed out. Our set provided a nice mellow start to the night and by the end our indie rock/post punk fellow travellers and UK exports 'We were promised Jet Packs' and 'So I watched you from Afar' soon turned the place into a Mosh Pit. Bombay was a place we'll never forget!

 Last stop on the trip, We flew to New Delhi, we had a few days to kick back before the next show so the festival organisers took us off for a group trip to the Taj Mahal. We arrived just as the Sun was about to set behind the building having past through Agra, a town where Monkeys run riot in the street, locals hussle for trade and luxuriously decorated Camels lead colourful wedding processions.It was the India of the old movies, Picture books you read as a child. And getting nearer in the distance stood majestic silhouette of the Taj Mahal. It was great seeing the Taj in the flesh for the first time, We got a few great pics of the whole group of us outside. It really is a wonder of the world, We'd love to make a record in there the acoustics are incredible!

  We spent the next few days, well... partying... Then recovering, Then Partying...so forth, Some epic hotel room lemon fights under the influence of tequila is all we can remember...oops...hic.., However we did recover in time to perform the last live date at NH7 Dehli. The festival site was the at the F1 Track and looked great as we drove up to it in the distance. With a much bigger site and attendance numbers, We knew we were gonna have a great show. We finally got to appear on 'the Other Stage' just after Bollywood Star Kailash Kher and just before the spectacular headline show from 'The Manganiyar Seduction' by Roysten Abel, The music that night was so varied and eclectic. We'd never seen performances like it, The Indian folk sure know how to put on a show! Our own set went fitted between the two brilliantly and we finished up with a powerful rendition of 'Buffalo Crow'. Again big thanks to audience for joining us. And so that was that for our trip to India, Untill (hopefully) the next time!!!

 

 

 At NH7Delhi we were introduced to Hope Monkey a charity raising money for all kinds of projects. After meeting the kids in Mumbia we were taken by a project aimed at raising funds to educate street kids and give them a meal. Please feel to checkout Hope Monkey and Donate if feel you'd like to.

Hey Everyone!

Autumn shows:

Thanks for dropping in. Here at ZP HQ we're recovering from a few weeks out on the road. Some of you may have caught our acoustic shows around the North of the UK. We had an amazing time, so great playing for you and meeting so many lovely Z&P listeners. Its not over yet either, after a sell out show in Bristol we're off to play The Glee Club Birmingham.Come join us!

Radio:

We've had a fantastic few months starting with a showcase gig hosted by BBC Radio 2 in Hyde Park London. We were given a platform to showcase our songs with our band on the BBC Introuducing Stage. Watch'Living in a Small Town'and'Cigar Store Indian'

It was this showcase that earned us a place on theRadio 2 play list with single 'Sure Fire Bet'Which has proved very popula with Radio 2 listeners and has remained on the play list for a 4th week.' Sure Fire Bet'has made its way onto Irelands RTE 1 A List playlistandBBC Radio Wales playlist also. So welcome to all the new listeners that are finding our music for the first time and big thanks to all the DJ's that are spinning our music!!

RTE 1 Ireland has highlighted 'Lifebringer' as their 'Album of the Week'

Up coming Tour:

 

We're heading back out on the road for a short tour around Cornwall. We'll be playing a set of Acoustic shows,Event details here. Hope to see you there!!

 

India Tour:

 

As some of may know Zervas & Pepper will be heading out to India for the bands first run of International Shows. The 6 piece band will entertain the NH7 Festival Audience in Delhi and Bangalore. Stopping in Mubia to play an industry show case gig at the legendary Blue Frog. We're extremely excited to take our Music to an International audience. We'd like to thank PRSF for supporting us and providing funds to enable us to take this opportunity. We'd also like to thanks WMF for linking us up with NH7 and PRSF.

 

Guitarist Magazine:

 

Huge thanks to Guitarist Magazine for taking time out to chat Z&P about songwriting/tunings and guitar love. We were made up to be featured along side John Mayer, Robby Krieger , Stephen Stills. Grab your copy while stocks last..

 

 

Hey All,

Thanks for dropping in, By now most of you guys will have your copy of LIFEBRINGER. Thanks so much for your purchases and we really hope the album has been great company for the summer months. We've received many e-mails, tweets and facebook posts from you guys letting us know your thoughts on the album and we're so pleased that this record is out there with you and your digging it!

We've had an amazing reaction from UK Press you can view lots of reviews for LIFEBRINGER including an excellent 4 Star review from Will Hodgkinson at The Times.

Here at Z&P HQ we've been extremely busy (hence the lack of update blogs) in the run up to releasing the album doing lots of shows as a duo and with our band. We've been making our way around the UK playing Clubs and Festivals you may have caught us at Glastonbury Festival,we played our first Duo show at The Croissant Nerf tent.

Gold Coast Festivals, Deer Shed Festival or Green Man Festival and we've had a blast playing for you and meeting you guys on the road. More dates coming your way as we're heading out on a late summer UK tour... Here's the dates.. Have to say we're really looking forward to hitting the road again and turning up in a town or City hopfuly near you. If we're missing you this time have no fear we're working on new dates all the time. Feel free to send us requests for your area and we'll try and get to you at some point soon. 

Huge thanks to all the ZP peeps that voted for Jerome to make the 'Amazing Radio' playlist.. we won the public vote by a whopping 40% Good work crew! More recent Radio play comes from Whispering Bob Harris at BBC Radio 2, welcome to our new listeners!

And finally Zervas & Pepper's 2nd LP LIFEBRINGER has been nominated for the Welsh Music Prize along with 11 Welsh albums. Please check out the albums nominated, its a chance to delve into the great music coming out Wales 'Welsh Music Prize'  We're very proud that LIFEBRINGER has been included in the final 12 albums.

 

 

 

Hi Everyone!

On Thursday 06/06/13 at 11am CD Pre-Orders of our New Album 'LIFEBRINGER' will be made available from our online store (link below). The Album release is due on the 22nd July, All pre-order purchasers will receive the album by post on or just before that official release date (international times may vary). Store

Our secure online checkout accepts both PayPal and All major Credit or Debit Cards.

Also as special one-off opportunity for fans who pre-order the album we have a very limited amount of exclusive Tickets For our forthcoming 'Secret' album launch Show with our full band on 25/07/13 in Cardiff which will be offered to the first 50 Orders we receive. Tickets are priced at £5, max 2 x Ticket per purchase.
THE SHOW WILL BE AN AN INTIMATE PRESS AND INDUSTRY SHOWCASE ONLY, So tickets will not be available to the general public other than this special limited quantity!!!

If you would like to be in the running to purchase Tickets for the Secret Show then just attach a message with your Pre-order Album purchase ''Yes I'd like to Purchase Tickets for the Cardiff show'' and  If your purchase falls within the first 50 orders you will receive an e-mail with a link to purchase Show Tickets.

Get your pre-order for 'LIFEBRINGER' in ASAP to avoid disappointment! Good Luck and Many Thanks!

Kath Pepper and Paul Zervas. x

UK Tour with Lindi Ortega

A very belated ThankYou to everyone that came along to our UK Tour with Lindi Ortega. We had a really warm welcome at every show and it was great to meet so many lovely folks. Lindi, Tom and Dave we're just lovely and put on an excellent show night after night. If you haven't checked out Lindis Music before now follow the link: http://lindiortega.ca/  If your a fan of the hit TV show NASHVILLE then you may have spotted Lindis Cameo part playing herself.. A big thumbs up for the rising Country Music artist.

 

 

Making 'LIFEBRINGER' … Shamans, Ghost Dancers and a Dystopian future..

Hey all, We've had a pretty hectic few months recently, That's hectic in a good way!, However we do apologise for the wait since our last post. So with the release of our 2^nd album 'LIFEBRINGER' imminent, We thought we'd share with you a little bit about the forthcoming albums creation,songs and  inspiration etc. We're really excited about the release and we hope you will be too!

So at the start of 2012, feeling a little burnt-out from juggling day jobs and growing music commitments we saved up our pennies and took off for a much needed break across the pond to LA. We rented a house deep in the canyons and took our guitars and needless to say it wasn't long before we started getting the odd idea for songs and within a few days we were on a roll. We often use our travels for inspiration but certainly hadn't set out to write almost an entire album on the trip, but we were buzzing with new ideas and inspiration, it just happened!

We started to get in to the idea of telling an epic story in a 3 minute song. The first song we wrote with that in mind was 'Buffalo Crow'. Whilst in LA we picked up a leaflet for 'Shamanic Medicine' that is used today for fighting addiction, we felt that made for the beginnings of an epic internal fight. 'Buffalo' tells the tale of a persons journey to find a legendary medicine man to cure his addiction, there he witnesses a sacred ritual that changes how he sees the world forever. In case you were wondering the song's first chorus contains an ancient and profoundly spiritual native American principle "Saa naghai bik'eh hozho",Which when translated into English roughly means "Infinite harmony and balance of all living things".

 

On the subject of shamans, bizarrely on a return trip later in the year this time with our Bass player Andrew Brown we stayed in a house in Nichols Canyon once owned by The Beatles Publicist Derek Taylor. It's current owners told us that in the 1960's Taylor's-then tenant had believed the house was haunted, after performing a séance and some kind of exorcism they surmised that the house was haunted by an existential Indian Chief. A fact that we found pretty freaky... but really cool at the same time, especially being as we had written a couple of native Indian inspired songs.. So continuing the trend with this co-incidence we the penned the track 'Ghost Dancer'.

 

We never did spot the friendly ghost but Paul did see a real dog riding a real motorbike, but that's another story!! 

 

Next came the song 'Lookout Mountain', we wrote this early hours of the morning on returning from a party on Lookout Mountain Ave in Hollywood, a mixture of jet lag and Whiskey made for an all-night writing session and finished up with a really pretty song. Looking out over LA's massive City sprawl with a multitude of police and news helicopters circling overhead we penned 'Living in a Small Town' a warning that all small towns are eventually heading towards becoming 'super-cities' at some point and it seemed that every time we watched the news there was another riot somewhere in the world, it kind of felt like the human race was hurtling towards disaster.

 

We returned home with around 15 strong ideas for songs. Over the following months we recorded and released 'Buffalo Crow' and 'One Man Show' and then got to work on refining the tracks we'd started whilst we were away, Ultimately some songs fell by the wayside while others developed once introduced to the band set up. We had a period of rehearsal with Andrew Brown (Bass) Jack Egglestone (Drums) and Simon Kingman (Guitar) and on Jan 1^st 2013 we headed to Music Box Studios with Llion Robertson to lay down the rhythm tracks. We then egan four weeks of recording at our home studio. Laying down acoustic/electric guitars, Vocals and synths and then bringing in session Musicians Jon 'Catfish' Thomas, Lee Goodall, Niamh Ferris, Krissy Jenkins and Rob Pugh for some specialist overdubs. Its safe to say we had a blast recording the album! With such great musicianship and commitment from everyone involved we feel we got the very best out of the songs, We hope you think so too.

 

We then headed back the Llion Robertson for the mammoth task of mixing the record. It was a frantic but fun time. We were slightly up against it time-wise as we were heading out on tour late February and were keen to get the album mixed before we went. For the final part of the recording process we returned to Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering for that all important finishing touch.

 

Artwork for 'Lifebringer'

Whilst at a gallery in LA we stumbled upon the work of Logan Maxwell Hagege, A extremely talented artist who's paintings we instantly fell in love with. We were particularly enchanted by his southwestern portraits and we felt the songs we were writing sat beautifully with the characters he was painting and we soon became friends. One painting which really caught our eye was his depiction of a vintage 'Kachina' doll which to us looked like some kind of time-travelling storyteller and seemed the perfect image for the 'Cosmic Folk Rock' feel that the album was now leaning heavily towards. We were blown away when Logan kindly agreed to let us use his painting for the cover. Please check out Logans awesome work and visit  http://loganhagege.com/ Incidentally 'Kachina' when translated into English means 'LIFEBRINGER'. 

 

Keep your ears peeled  for the forthcoming Singles 'Jerome' and 'Sure Fire Bet' on the
airwaves very soon!! Thanks for dropping by, 

Z&P