To Be Alone With You

On Saturday I did a solo electric guitar set at Abbazappa Records in Derry. Thanks to Geoff from MK-ULTRA for asking me. Photos by Luke McAdams.

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From the place that I’ll be landing

It’s four in the morning, the end of December

2/12/16 – Photo by Blathnaid. First gig in ages, and first gig with new drummer John and it was pretty, pretty good.

For the ghost and the storm outside will not invade this sacred shrine

The poster says it all really. Invaderband play their first show this year, upstairs in Sandinos, Derry. There will be a little present for everyone who comes. Note that this is NOT an album launch – I’ll try to sort that for January. x

Keeps out invaders who come but still can’t control the violent side

Photograph: Lisa Byrne

My plan is for 2015 to be the year Invaderband spreads its wings. The following things should become reality this year: Releases, local(ish) Irish gigs as usual but also UK dates (I know, great!), some in my birthplace and spiritual flat-capped home of Manchester. Current plans for UK are early August, but a new website is being developed right now (invaderband.com) so keep your eye on that and you will be able to sign up to a mailing list to stay bang up-to-date, and get one of our super-shiny new recordings for doing so – taken from sessions at the end of 2014. There are lots of plans (videos, festivals, blah & blah) and I am very excited because I believe these new recordings to be the best thing I have ever been involved with musically.

As for the solo stuff, the Octopus project will end in a couple of weeks with Octopus Part 8 released on – gosh you’re clever – the 8th March. I believe I have saved some of the best music until last there as well, with the usual mix of covers (Beatles again this time!), previously unreleased songs/recordings and a great BBC session track of a ‘Nature Recordings’ song, so it kind of brings it up to date with my solo releases too. I only realised recently – this was genuinely an accident – that the 8th song on the 8th release is ‘The Eighth Tower’. There are 8 Invaderband recordings, I have 8 songs written for my new solo album and I live at No. 8 on my street, so that mystical digit is clearly relevant to me in a universal sense. Richard Dawkins would say that it was coincidence & random, but he’s a bit of a bore. The lovely art for Octopus 8 is here, kindly created by my friend and brother-in-song, Chris McConaghy:

Free download for 1 month, then I think I will bundle up all 8 releases into 1 and sell it for £20 or something extremely reasonable indeed for 64 songs. I might even press up some physical copies with extra songs if there is a demand for that, but I don’t want to fall into the double pack with a photograph extra track and a tacky badge trap, which there is a real danger of. Maybe I’ll just make 8 and put them on eBay.

That’s all I can think of for now. MASSIVE thanks to BUYERS of the Octopus releases which are always available for free originally. I know who you are and I’ll hug & kiss you all if we ever meet…

Bye for now!
+A x

Rollin’ high and mighty traps

I Think Images Are Worth Repeating

21st March 2014

10th April 2014

Alone you stand with nobody near

Upcoming solo gigs:

• 21st March 2014 – The Nerve Centre, Derry.
• 10th April 2014 – The Grand Central, Derry.

Sound and Vision

Photograph: Jonny Delaney

Photograph: Jonny Delaney

Photograph: Jonny Delaney

Photograph: Jonny Delaney

Photograph: Jonny Delaney

Photograph: Jonny Delaney

Thanks to Jonny for the ace photography – click on photos for epic bigness.

And ace audio (thanks Stephen) of an interview with me and a song recorded live at the 8th February Invaderband gig at Echo Echo for Other Voices.

Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while

“The Other Voices Music Trail will return to Derry~Londonderry from Feb 7th to 9th. We had more than 450 entries from bands and singer-songwriters all over Ireland and the UK and we’ve picked the best 60 to perform in the city’s venues, bars, cafes and cultural venues throughout the Other Voices weekend”.

We’ll play on Saturday 8th at about 5pm, sandwiched between Our Krypton Son and Overhead, The Albatross.

Echo Echo is a truly beautiful venue, and it’s free. Get on it!