The bird is not the metaphor - preview & pre-order from April 18th 2015

There is a preview track from the forthcoming sixth LP, 'The bird is not the metaphor,' streaming over at Bandcamp and Soundcloud. The track is Latch. Gideon Coe very kindly played it on his show on 28th January, which got us off to a lovely start.

The LP will be officially released on 18th April 2015.

Bandcamp

Gideon Coe playlist

Soundcloud

There is very flattering first review of the LP over at DOA, which you can read for yourselves, because quoting it makes us blush.

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Tell and show

We're excited that our new LP, 'The bird is not the metaphor' will be released by Damnably and Little Red Rabbit on 18th April 2015. Lovely double vinyl (with free CD), or regular CD, or download.

We're delighted to be playing with Joel RL Phelps and the Downer Trio (*and* Zebra Hunt, *and* Former Utopia) on 12th September, 2014, at the Sebright Arms, 31-35 Coate Street London, UK E2 9AG.

Details here: http://www.damnably.com/2014/05/joel-r-l-phelps-downer-trio-12-sep-14/

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Birds which are not metaphors.

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The bird is not the metaphor.

If you've been following our progress on the Facebook page, you'll know we've been busy. If you haven't, then this will be news to you: we've been busy. We've been busy doing all the stuff we're usually busy doing (eating foods that disagree with us, trying to be parents/children/both to our children/parents/both, working at our day jobs, worrying about the end of civilisation, worrying about the end of the world, trying to be useful, trying to be good, trying not to break stuff, etc). But we've also been busy making this record, this same 'Bird is not the metaphor' record that we seem to have been discussing for some years now (I'm not going to check - I'm sure it is years). In fact, we've been so busy - so intermittently-but-intensely involved in it - that I think we might even have finished it.

Over a weekend in November last year we recorded live bass, drums and guitars for 9 songs. Then Tom went back and did the violin. Then I got a chest infection, and went back and disappointed everyone with some wheezy vocals. Then I went back and did them again. I was allowed to stay in the band. Then in the spring, we went in and recorded a further 3 songs. I took the swearing out of one of them, and calmed the fuck down, and everyone stopped hating it. Throw in a couple of days worth of mixing and mastering, then factor in about 2,000 emails and phone calls to argue about the mixing and mastering and - bingo! - we were done.

We have 12 songs which we're really very pleased with. And we have a plan to release this new record in early 2014, as a collaborative venture between our friends at Damnably and our friends at Little Red Rabbit. There will be vinyl and download.

We are super-excited about it. We think you'll like it. Not as in 'you-the-whole-internet' obviously - you people will be sorely disappointed by at it, at best, and more likely, let's be honest, you will remain entirely ignorant of this record's existence. We have realistic expectations after all. No, we mean 'you-people-who-occasionally-wonder-if-Lazarus-Clamp-are-still-going-and-if-so,what-they-are-up-to?' You people. You will be pleased, we hope, that you linked our ill-considered hard-to-recall name to a little corner of your big, busy musical brains, and that you tripped over it sometime recently, and wondered what we had been up to. We have been up to this. We have been busy. We have been making this thing. We are super-excited about it.We think you'll like it.

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The bird is not the metaphor (N.B. I've lost count what part of the saga we're on).

Apologies for the lapse in communications. I've been updating the Facebook group, but have been a bit reluctant to post 'nearly news' here. We were dormant from April until September. Reverse hibernation.

Since then, we've been busy, regaining the ground we had occupied until the 'accidentally moving house' incident. And the 'inadvertently ruining a finger' incident. And the 'unfortunately being laid low by actual influenza' incident.

Anyway, we are recording most of the new LP next weekend, fate and fortune permitting. And the remainder of it we hope to finish off the following weekend (violin and vocals). We'll hold off mixing until after Christmas, but whichever way you look at it, there will be a new Clamp record in 2013. And it will probably be called 'The bird is not the metaphor.'

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'The bird is not the metaphor.' Parts 3, 4, 5 - and unplanned interlude.

Right then. 'Blog lags behind life' shock.

So - we played the Windmill show [part 3 of our recording preparation], and it seemed to go well. Certainly, we enjoyed ourselves. There's some video evidence, which I have not seen, but which is apparently fit for public consumption. We'll post the link, once its up.

From there, a week later, we picked up our 'to do' list for an afternoon in a cowshed somewhere near Milton Keynes [part 4], and spent a lot of time trying out the effects of different drum parts on 'Bow down' and 'Things are sticky.' Neither set of experiments are likely to be retained. And we edged slowly closer to some sort of shape for the end of 'Horse you rode in on,' which has been surviving live performances by the seat of its pants, but may need a sturdier underpinning if it's to survive the scrutiny of tape. And Huw announced that he would probably have to move house at the end of the month. Oh dear.

A few days after that, and Huw confirmed that he would be moving house at the time when we had planned to record. So, in the way of all things Clamp, actual events may occur later than previously advertised. We are re-arranging our recording dates for September/October. We'll keep you posted.

A week later [part 5], and we met up [without Huw, who was ripping out plasterboard and 100 year old electrics in preparation for the move, by this point] in the cowshed again. When we arrived, it turned out that they were doublebooked, and we spent the first part of the afternoon rehearsing in a kitchenette. This was kind of OK: I made everyone try out a group singing part for 'Horse you rode in on,' which we would never have got round to trying with the distractions of drums and volume closer-to-hand. It sort of worked. John - who has listened to the recording - tells me that it may sound 'too grumpy' to be workable. We'll see. I enjoyed it, without being sold on it. Later - in the real rehearsal room - we figured out details on 'Things are sticky' and 'Simple and easy' [which finally has an end], and then spent hours playing one chord in two thousand different combinations, for the end of 'Horse.' Progress of sorts: Andrew and I know what each of us are doing, and in what likely sequence, without having forced the thing into some unrecognisable shape. Should work ...

Later that evening, John tore a ligament in his finger, while catching the bass when his strap broke. So, he's out of action for 6-8 weeks - which would have scuppered the recording anyway. Que sera, sera, etc.

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Windmill, Brixton, 23rd March 2012 - with Shannon Wright.

We are playing this Damnably show, which is exciting. I don't know what we'll play. But we're playing it.

Shannon Wright

with Lazarus Clamp, Former Utopia.

Friday, March 23, 2012

The Windmill

22 Blenheim Gardens,
London, UK SW2 5BZ

http://www.wegottickets.com/event/157671

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