Quillsters, attend! Lean in close, and we will whisper in your ear strange and wondrous tales of distant lands, fantastical musicks, old things, witches, and.........and such. Lean in, thy friends! Closer.....closer...closer!! Hmmm...not that close. Excellent! Is anyone hungry? Exellent! Let's begin...
It certainly cannot be said that 1996 crept up on Früvous unawares; in fact, we hit the New Year with such energy that it was caught slightly off-guard. After coming off the road in mid-December, the band cooled its heels for a few weeks, cranking it up long enough to rock all over Buffalo, N.Y., on New Year's Eve.
Then in January, for two rock'em sock'em weeks, we preproduced, recorded, mixed and mastered the B-album! That's right, the world's most fabled mythical beast since the Sneep is offically "in the can", and chunks of molten plastic are being pressed into its likeness even as your sweating hands hold this page. It is available now through us directly, although it will appear in Canadian record stores at some point in the future. Some of the songs on the B-album are really old, while other ones are so new that...well, suffice to say, they're really new. All in all, we are positively pumped about it, and about future recordings in the B-album series. It gives us a wonderful outlet to sing in funny voices, without which we tend to go a little squirrelly.
On February 26th (or thereabouts) we make out triumphant return to the U.K. We haven't been there in about eighteen months, and the doctors say that our blood levels of deep-fried animal fat and mushy peas have dropped sufficiently to permit a two-week stay. Hooray! We were all so excited when we found out, we immediately put on our raincoats and stood in the shower for twenty minutes. England - new, green, pleasant.
After the U.K. trip (and complete blood transfusions all 'round), we'll be heading down the eastern seaboard starting in mid-March. The U.S. is so exciting for us right now, we think of it as one big Disneyland thousands of miles wide. It's been wonderful to be so warmly welcomed into the hearts and minds of Americans, although in the latter case you get the impression that there's no shortage of space. Not exactly an "overstuffed warehouse", if you know what we mean. Oh well, in any case...America, we french kiss you, sloppily.
This summer will see us hitting the folk festival circuit in Canada and the U.S., as well as a full U.S. tour in June and July to every place we're visited in the past. In and around all of this, we'll be busing penning and taping our third album, for which we will solicit thousands of title selections from you and then not use a single one. The working title is "Rumours", and by May we'll have completed a computer search to see if it's available.
We'd be remiss if we failed to mention some swell musical collaborations we've had recently, with several musical peers. We gigged with our witty and incisive hero/chum Bob Snider throughout Canada's sunny Maritimes. Fellow "Melodian" Ron Sexsmith was our honoured guest for a spate of stateside shows, charming one and all with his poignant compositions and smart Italian blazer. We also appeared on new discs by folk maven Penny Lang and madcap scenester Jaymz Bee, allowing us to both sing with an inspirational Canadian protest legend AND scamper around in formal wear like Matt Helm clones on the set of "Premarital Private Eye". Great times, and quality additions to any musical library.
Well, Quillsters, this is farewell, but not "good-bye", and certainly not "hello". It may be many months before we again converse through so intimate a medium as a form letter through the mail, so please come see us live, and in the meantime, consider wallowing in the Früvous brainwaves imprinted on the B-album. So, until next time, may constant tailwinds reduce your gasoling costs.
Tuesday, February 27 London, UK The Borderline Thursday, February 29 Leicester, UK Scrap Toft Bar Saturday, March 2 Slough, UK The Wheatsheaf Sunday, March 3 Dudley, UK Robin Hood Monday, March 4 Manchester, UK The Roadhouse Tuesday, March 5 Leicester, UK DeMontford University Wednesday, March 6 Nottingham, UK The Old Vic Thursday, March 7 London, UK The Mean Fiddler Saturday, March 9 Cambridge, UK Anglia Polytechnic Friday, March 15 Austin, TX SXSW--Tropical Isle--8:00pm Saturday, March 16 Boston, MA The Middle East Sunday, March 17 Portland, ME Granny Killam's March 19 & March 20 Long Island, NY Nassau Community College Folk Festival Thursday, March 21 New York, NY Wetlands Friday, March 22 Alfred, NY Alfred University Saturday, March 23 Fredonia, NY S.U.N.Y. @ Fredonia Thursday, March 28 Toledo, OH The Main Event Friday, March 29 Geneso, NY S.U.N.Y. @ Geneseo Friday, April 12 Toronto, ON The Horseshoe *Früvous & Friends for Choice July 27 & 28 Hillsdale, NY Falconridge Folk Festival August 23 & 25 Ottawa, ON Ottawa Folk Festival For more information on these dates call JAM at 416-534-1929 or email moxy@passport.ca. June & July Tour now being booked in... Washington, D.C. Detroit, MI Cleveland, OH Atlanta, GA Minneapolis, MN Columbus, OH Chicago, IL St. Louis, MO Cincinnati, OH Champaign, IL Utica, NY Guelph, ONT Boston, MA New York, NY Philadelphia, PA Northampton, MA Buffalo, NY Providence, RI Baltimore, MD Rochester, NY Regina, SASK Portland, ME Dayton, OH Nashville, TN
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