hamswell festival

we're filming a video

we're filming a video for five-minute funeral march and album centrepiece -dance with crow- in the hope that it will catapult us to fame and fortune.

however, we need your help to do it.

if anyone is interested in being an extra for it [and we will need as many as possible], then the best thing to do is keep an eye on the red kite facebook and twitter pages and we'll post details there. maybe we'll do an event an invite you to it, if we can figure out how to do that. we'll need you to have a suitably all-black outfit and be available for either one or both of the following dates:

thursday 22nd august
thursday 29th august

we'll be filming it at a studio in netil house, hackney.

you heard it here first.


... and in other news

we're booked to play hamswell festival in bath on friday 16th august, on stage at 9.30. come get lost in the west country with us, it's always fun.

many of you have been asking when the album will be out for general release....

unfortunately at the moment i can't give a definitive answer, though it will most likely be in the autumn around october. as ever, that is subject to change and could end up simply being a lie.

i've been working on new material and it is sounding both groovy and slick.

lately, i have mainly been interested in these new songs by fellow music makers:

Ariel - Nicholas Stevenson from Nicholas Stevenson on Vimeo.

goodbye, pink lady

said goodbye to this little lady today. she served me well, giving me gathering storm, fat fish and tell those fuckers, among others. look after her, simon. may she sing just as sweetly for you.

ready player one

it's not all bolano nine hundred pagers and canadian comics opuses at rk hq. in between posting packages,  uploading zip files and writing songs, i have been thoroughly enjoying this guilty little gem. crack open the geek in you. go on, let him out.

nearly done with the pledge packages, next stop: full on summer release.

between daft punk, qotsa and the national, some fairly decent albums around, too.

i went to kew gardens on tuesday. i filmed some flowers and caught a cold.

d x

red kite pull out of northampton roadmenders show

unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances, we've had to pull out of the northampton roadmenders show on 21st june. we're absolutely gutted as we were looking forward to that one. sincerest apologies, we assure you it could not be helped. no reason not to pop down and check out the incredible an escape plan , who will no doubt be announcing equally fantastic support for the evening.

alt-rock tears being shed,

d rk x

the glove

getting prepared...

songs for crow - the story of the album

hey kites.

we're nearing the pledge campaign release date, we hope you're all as excited as we are. there'll be a full release in the summer through itunes and independent record shops, but the pledge campaign is your chance to get hold of the album before anyone else does, so be sure to put your name down before the 29th april or you'll have to wait even longer to wrap your ears around it.

i figured i'd spend a little time here explaining how the album came about, what it's about, and what you guys can expect.

in doing a few interviews with various people discussing the subject matter and the album's genesis, i was struck by a strange feeling. the album is extremely personal and tackles some pretty heavy stuff. however, whenever i was asked about the exact nature of said 'stuff', i instantly and instinctively clammed up. it wasn't out of cowardice, or the desire to seem enigmatic, or anything like that. instead, i found that i was avoiding talking about the subject matter of the album because to do so seemed disingenuous, and too much like trading in pain and suffering (and the suffering of those closest to me) for press exposure and publicity. i just couldn't do it. and the thought of explaining this story over and over again in the future filled me with a very distinct kind of dread.

my stock answer was always '...and then a bunch of stuff happened and i started making music again...'.

but this isn't enough. it doesn't do the album, and the pride i take in its quality, justice.

so...

i'm going to tell you guys here what happened, just so it's done. then i'll leave it alone. if the press want to know the backstory to the album then they can come and read it here, if not then so be it, no skin off mine. chances are, no-one will give a monkey's anyway, so it may prove to be of little consequence all the same.

this is songs for crow.

six years ago i left the cooper temple clause. some of you may know that already. i won't go into it in any detail as that is all in the past, but suffice to say it was a huge decision. that band and the music industry (horrid as it was/is) was all i'd known.

now i wanted nothing more to do with it.

i got a job in a library. i started writing fiction. i wanted nothing more to do with music and i swore i'd never go back to it.

this carried on for about four years. the great novel never came (evidence of why can be found here in some of my aborted attempts at fiction).

then the relationship i'd been in for nine years came to an end. another huge break. i found myself alone and living in my mum's spare room at thirty years of age, trying and repeatedly failing to get more than halfway through a novel.

not a great situation.

out of desperation, and no doubt too out of boredom, i went to the garage and picked up my guitar for the first time in four years. it was rusted and in pieces. i took it apart, cleaned it up, put it back together again. it felt like a ritual.

i started strumming, playing the same old things i would always play whenever i picked up a guitar (biffy's 'stress on the sky', johnny kidd and the pirates' 'shakin all over', lots of rage against the machine), nothing inspired, just anything to distract me from the shambles my life had become.

then i wrote a song.

i wrote the first song i'd written in over four years. it wasn't any good, but it was a song. and i'd written it quickly too, something i had never previously been in the habit of doing, save for the rarest of occasions.

the first thing i did was send it to tom bellamy. his reply was something along the line of 'you dickhead, i've been waiting four years for you to do this. come down (to london) in a couple of weeks and let's do some recording.'

the next day i wrote another song. and the next day another. in that initial first spree i wrote twenty five songs in three months, a level of prolificacy heretofore unknown. i went to see tom and we laid down the bare bones of some tracks (including 'calliope', 'gathering storm' and 'give old fat fish a chance'). it sounded great, this was actually happening, who cares what comes of it, it just feels good to be doing it again.

then my father died.

he died suddenly of a heart attack. i don't want to go into much detail, just to say that it happens to everyone, if you're lucky. it's right that a child should bury their parent, rather than the other way around (something my mother had to do, hence the support of fsid, now called the lullaby foundation, through the pledge campaign).

naturally, i wrote about it ('saddle up, son', 'spanish courtyard'), and then i felt guilty about using my father's death to write rock and roll songs, so i wrote about that too (dance with crow). it all helped, of course.

then i found love again, in the most unexpected of places (you're not getting that story, it's all very soppy and wonderful and no doubt repugnant to read about). and i wrote some songs about that.

and lo and behold, we had an album. i owe a lot to a lot of people, none more so than tom bellamy, without whose dedication, talent and support this would not have seen the light of day. and thanks to the marvellous folks known as paul, jon, jim, nick and laura, we can even play it live.

so that's it. the album is done, and we're about to release it. i never thought this would happen, but it seems as though it has. the album track listing is finished, but if anyone is interested, a rough chronological running order (lyrically, at least) is as follows:

red blooded males

streetlights

calliope

no painter of note

the gathering storm

saddle up, son

spanish courtyard

dance with crow

montreal

poltergeist

no idea what that would sound like as a running order, but there it is.

it's been good writing this. hope it hasn't been too turgid for you guys.

hope you are all well.

take care of yourselves and those closest to you.

dx

are you listening?

i'll be playing an acoustic set at milk in reading on april 27th as part of the 'are you listening' festival, organised in support of reading mencap.

music's great at this kind of thing. musical communities are fairly unique in their ability to lend their support to charities and causes in such a positive and celebratory fashion. tickets are ten pounds and a wristband gets you access to all of the venues on the day, so it's a great opportunity to see lots of fantastic music and help out a great charity.

links for the tickets and facebook and twitter are included below, so get yourselves down there and share the heck out of the links.

 www.twitter.com/aylfestival
 www.bwmusic.co.uk/upcoming-shows/
www.facebook.com/AreYouListeningFestival

new live shows, building stories

hey kites.

some new live dates for you:

saturday 11th may - the abbot cook, reading
saturday 25th may - lexington, angel, london

i'll also be playing an acoustic show in reading on saturday 27th april, more details to come.

the pledge campaign is flying along, hovering just shy of 140%. the more we raise, the more we can put back into the band, so keep up the hard work spreading the word, guys, it's much appreciated. we also donate 5% of everything raised over 100% to the foundation for the study of infant deaths. this is no random charity, but one that affected my family a while back, so something very close to my heart.

the pledge album drops (digitally, at least) on april 29th, so time's running out to get your hands on it before anyone else.

to further pile on the good news, my copy of building stories has finally arrived:

for anyone who doesn't know chris ware (you are genuinely missing out), a good place to start would be any of the acme novelty datebooks. the collected quimby the mouse is great too, and they are all glorious to behold. go on, treat yourself.

rk x

bsl sign language alphabet. of course.

thanks kites

well done kites!!!
thank you so much, guys, from the bottom of our hearts. your support has been truly touching, you are an amazing bunch of folks.
we'll be in touch soon with news on where next for the project.
congratulations to kevin allen for getting us over the line!

head over to the pledge website once you've helped us out to check out the exclusive updates just for pledgers:

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/redkite/updates

alt-rock is the winner.

so, so, so much love,

rk x