Okay then. Halfway through the year and I’ve already done more gigs than for ooh… quite few years now. Here’s what I learned: Touring takes up a helluva a lot of recording and writing time. Nonetheless, here’s the main news.
Album News
We have a brand new album for you soon! Written, recorded, mixed and mastered, it should be out by end of August. It’s called Lilli Bolero. It contains twelve songs and one instrumental piece. One of the songs Time We Talked Again was previously on an earlier album Return to Bohemia (2013). It’s a good strong song which I always felt could have been done better. So I did a tons-better new version. The other songs are pretty much box-fresh and I’m already being told by the few who’ve heard it that Lilli Bolero is up there among my best. So I hope you’ll like it.
Label News
..and while I’m here, I may as well tell you that Lilli Bolero, the new album will be coming out on Jodie Lowther’s Cat Collects label, which means that you CD buyers will get a CD in a jewel case with a proper lyric booklet. More news on this soon.
Gig News
We are planning a Cleaners from Venus Big London Gig for next spring. We haven’t decided on a venue yet but we’ll be looking for a bigger one than before, so that more of you get a chance to see us. The format which we’re considering for this event will comprise two sets SET 1) With me solo at piano and guitar. SET 2) With me and a full band (we do have a band in mind). During Set 2 with the band I’m planning to play about a dozen of the Cleaners’ biggest and best numbers. Let’s see how we get on, shall we?
I loved doing that tour back in spring, by the way and it was great meeting you all in every city that I played. My distinguished tour manager, Steve Munson, told me that you were quite the nicest audiences of any artist he’d ever worked with. The tour did whack me out a bit however. I was more tired than I’d counted on being.
Film News
The aforementioned Steve Munson also shot tons of film while we were touring, So he’s edited some of the 600 (count ‘em) rushes down to about 48 minutes for a film called All The Way From Venus. It’s fast and really good fun. We won’t be launching this quite yet. And it’s not going to be a big venture. We’re obvs not sending it to the BBC/ Netflix or anyone like that. We want it to stay fun. But we thought that those who couldn’t make the tour would like it. We’re currently debating how and when to deliver it…next spring probably.
Book News At last, I’m free to get on with HRH, the long-in -process Home Recording Handbook . The good news? I have a publisher, Dunlin Books. It’s not actually a ‘How To’ book. Instead, it’s a collection of short chapters on music and music-biz related subjects It will however contain a number of handy tips on the subject of DIY / Lo-fi recording. It’s about 75 percent done now. I hope to have it finished in the coming weeks.
There may be more book news soon, when my learned colleague, James Hunter, gets home from his American tour and we can get talking about this illustrated book of children’s poems. Again, this project is only about 3 poems and 3 illustrations from being ready to present to a potential publisher.
Odds and Zods There isn’t a Golden Afternoon this year. The Arts Centre, our traditional home, couldn’t find us a suitable space. There’s a slight possibility that I’ll do one or two low-key Music/ Spoken Word afternoon gigs this autumn, but apart from another fundraiser at Colchester’s Minories venue (on November 17th) nothing’s been nailed down yet.
There are two poetry two gigs for July.
On the evening of 10th July I’m at Colchester Arts Centre with the Hosepipe Band.
https://colchesterartscentre.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/1173653318/events/428644972
On the afternoon of 20th July I’m at St Leonards Church on Hythe Hill Colchester, with the poet Martin Bewick (MW Bewick) to do a poetry reading of the Hythe Collection and other works.
Our Patreon site, for about £3.00 a month subscription continues to feature little film clips, of songs and tales by me.
https://www.patreon.com/thecleanersfromvenus
And of of course the weekly Oddcaste, now past its 200th edition continues to thrill and delight (it says here) Have a good summer everyone! https://www.mixcloud.com/martinnewelloddcaste/
I only recently discovered your music but have fast become a massive fan, so is exciting to also find this blog post with news of a possible gig later in the year! I live in Melbourne (Australia) but will be visiting the UK in October, so am crossing fingers it might be then. Will keep an eye out for the book you're working on! Carl