James McCann's album Where Was I Then is available now thru Australian label Torn and Frayed. Also available is the album Last Night I Met The Devil on Spanish label Bang! Records. The album has been receiving glowing reviews across Europe. Bang! have also released albums by Spencer P Jones, Brian Henry Hooper, Roland S Howard, The Beasts of Bourbon and more.James McCann's new acoustic album'Sweet Casualty'[Torn and Frayed/shock]will be available from August 2008.Also look out for the Rockin album'Bound for the Blues'to be released on limited vinyl thru French[Bretagne]label Beast Records[Six Ft Hick,Double Agents],and on cd thru Torn and Frayed.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland and migrating to Australia with his family in his 7th year to the South West Australian backwoods town of Albany, an old port town, coastal, big trees, big granite rocks, where your options were fishing, shearing, surfing or playing music, or occasionally all of the above, James started writing and performing locally in pubs at the age of 15 while still in high school and the writing was on the wall.
From Albany, James made his way north to Perth, again forming bands and performing around the city and in rural locations, recording a few demos. But the frustration of isolation encouraged James's move to Sydney at age 22, where he formed, wrote and performed in bands such as Harpoon, Nunchukka Superfly, and Lowdorados, playing constantly in and around Sydney while also playing the Livid festival '95, the Big Day Out '96 and '97, and a range of festivals taking James from Sydney to Melbourne Adelaide and Perth. Harpoon released the album Fork Tongued Pressed and Greasy on Black Hole/Shock.
On returning to Perth in 1998, James reunited with Gareth Liddiard and Rui Pereira on Christmas Eve after having crossed paths once before. They confessed that they had been looking for each other since then. They formed the first incarnation of the Drones a week later. This line-up also played as the Gutterville Splendour Six, augmented with vocalist Maurice Flavel. The Gutterville released 500 copies of an EP that, after the band folded, ended up on the playlist of the late DJ John Peel. Henry Rollins and Tex Perkins are also cited as fans. Members of the Gutterville Splendour Six included Steve Joines and Brendan Humphries, both of whom moved on to form the Kill Devil Hills, while vocalist Maurice Flavel formed M.F. and his Truckload of Hope.
James headed back to Sydney as the Drones set out for Melbourne, keeping in contact up and down the coast. James gave Gareth Liddiard a song called This Time, which ended up as the closer on the Drones Australian Music Prize-winning album Wait Long By The River And The Bodies Of Your Enemies Will Float By (Infidelity/Shock)Johnny Casino and the Secrets also recently covered James's song 'Drunk and Tired'on their EP 'Cowboys and Indians'[Off the Hip] James has also along the way played shows with Damo Suzuki from Can as part of the Damo Suzuki Network. Moving to Melbourne a few years ago has proved an invaluable decision. Where Was I Then was picked up by Andrew McGee's label Torn & Frayed and is now being distributed through Shock Records. The album was produced by Gareth Liddiard, Aaron Cupples (Dan Kelly & the Alpha Males) and James McCann. Torn & Frayed have released the new Kill Devil Hills album The Drought and have released albums by Townes Van Zandt,The Cuban Heels,The Bowerbirds,Jacky Winter,Conway Savage and The Dirty Three.
Where Was I Then is raw, intimate, and intense. This album is the culmination of years of hard rockin yakka and hundreds of hours of songwriting. Where Was I Then is distinctive in sound, with a mixture of country, blues and rock and roll, a sound that can travel from solo ballads to full tilt rockin. These songs capture a sense of space and vastness; Last Night I Met The Devil features new tracks including the extended psych out She's Intermediate/Hoodoo Joe which has to be heard to be believed. 'Sweet Casualty' was recorded in a one day sitting in the relaxed atmosphere of a vineyard in Nagambie,Victoria.
Remember 'SWEET CASUALTY'is out and available NOW!!! 'BOUND FOR THE BLUES' AVAILABLE ON VINYL AND CD LATE AUGUST!!!!!!
Do u like november in South of Spain? :) We are doing Monkey Week 2010 next year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1lDy8mRru4 (watch the video resume of 2009 edition: Heavy Trash, Kitty Daisy & Lewis, wire, Silver Apples, The A-Bones, King Kahn and The Shirnes...)
Subculture Weekend next weekend at The Sandringham Hotel, Newtown - flash, new! big upstairs room! Mother Truckers all set to rev the engine up on Black Friday 13 November.
Christmas is coming soon. Are you looking for a Christmas present and would like to help handicapped children? Than please request the list of donations in kind from HelpCharity, www.MySpace.com/HelpCharity , by sending me an e-mail at Ch.Lamitschka@t-online.de . Many donations in kind are autographed.
If you don't have the chance to request the list of donations in kind, please add HelpCharity to your Top Friends!
Thanks for helping me to support handicapped children!
Christian
Founder of HelpCharity Editor & Journalist for Country Music Christian Lamitschka An der Pfingstweide 28 61118 Bad Vilbel Germany Phone: ++49 (0) 6101 544613 Mobil: ++49 (0) 171 6903352 E-Mail: Ch.Lamitschka@t-online.de Internet: www.MySpace.com/HelpCharity Internet: www.MySpace.com/ChristianLamitschka
