News

Last Updated: 17th May

Stockman on Satellite (17th May)

Steve Stockman's popular show on Radio Ulster, Rhythm and Soul, is now accessible to anyone in the UK and Ireland with a Sky Digital system on channel 929. This weekend the show will feature a special pre-recorded session with Martyn Joseph and on May 26th a special live recording of the show (to be broadcast on the 28th) will take place in the Group Theatre, Belfast. The show will feature Booley, Susan Enan and Brian Houston. To find out how to get tickets visit Stocki's website.
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IndigoEcho Prepare for the Road (17th May)

Scotland's IndigoEcho are planning a mini-tour of southern England for November, visiting Eastbourne, Brighton and London. If anyone would like to book them for any dates to coincide with the tour, they'd love to hear from you. The band are planning to tour the Midlands and northern England early in 2001. IndigoEcho also hope to be playing at this year's Greenbelt Festival.
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Martyn and Shirley Part Ways (17th May)

Surprise news has just broken that Martyn Joseph has been removed from the Shirley Bassey tour on which he was the support act. Martyn's last show on the tour was in Cardiff, a concert which he describes as the tour's "best yet". The reason given for the sudden change is "incompatibility", presumably a result of the troubadour's tell-it-how-it-is approach to songwriting which didn't quite fit with Bassey's older, more conservative fanbase. Philosophical as ever, Martyn Joseph announced on his website that he feels that he has been done a favour by being asked to leave the tour as he felt he was simply playing at the shows in order to complete a job he'd started. With the free time now available to him, Martyn plans to record some new material he's been writing while on tour, which may appear as a limited edition CD.
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The Homecoming Tour (18th May)

The Amazing Pilots and Iain Archer are to return home to tour Ireland during June. The Pilots will be promoting their debut mini-album, Graduate Blood which is due for release at the beginning of June. Paul Wilkinson, guitarist/vocalist with the Amazing Pilots appears with Iain Archer on Johnny Parks' new release Nomads Welcome. Dates for the tour can be found in our gig guide.
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Fono Wedding (18th May)

Fono guitarist Thom Donovan recently married long-time girlfriend Maddie Ferrer in their native city of St. Louis (USA). The band are coming to the end of their tour with Audio Adrenaline and will be back in the UK soon. Singles from their goesaroundcomesaround album continue to do well on Christian radio stations in the US.
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Expanse Work With BBC (19th May)

Expanse will be playing in Montpellier Gardens, Cheltenham, as part of BBC Music Live on May 29th. The band will also be taking part in an event at the Racecourse to mark Pentecost 2000. After spending a lot of time rehearsing and refining their material, the band are anxious to play live and are looking for anyone who might be interested in them as a support act.
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Praise Revolution and British Artists (19th May)

US-based Praise Revolution Records are putting together a compilation album which will feature a range of UK artists including Evergreen, One:lite, and TVB. The album is due for release on June 15th. The label are also talking to Matt Redman about involving him in the project. UK distribution will be through Spirit Music.
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yfriday Recruit Bassist (21st May)

Increasingly popular worship band yfriday have just announced that they have found a new bass player to take over from the departing Ben Culkin. The new member is Danny Smith, a multi-instrumentalist from Hartlepool. Danny has already been playing with the band as a stand-in during their Spring Harvest and Easter People gigs and will now join the band as they tour extensively over the summer and begin pre-production on the follow-up to their Rainmaker album which will be recorded later in the year.
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Catching Up (22nd May)

Tenth Leper have moved their website. The Obstreperous are hard at work on their debut recording project. The new Johnny Parks album features contributions from Iain Archer and members of The Amazing Pilots and takes things in a more alt. country direction than his work with the Maroons. Steve Butler of Lies Damned Lies is said to be working on a solo album.
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Waiting For Bodixa (22nd May)

No word as yet on the rumoured major record deal for Bodixa, but the band have been in touch to say they recently returned to the live scene after some months locked away in a studio. The band's last single, the double a-sided "Waiting For You"/"Rivers" reached number 13 in the English and Scottish student airplay charts and is still a-listed on some regional radio stations. A follow-up single should emerge soon.
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Trendy Ascension Raring To Go (23rd May)

Ascension are eagerly awaiting the arrival of copies of their new album, Trendy To The Roots. The band released a single, "Everything In Nature Cries" which has been well received and has led to a number of good contacts including a listing on Broken Records, a place on a new compilation album in Norway and promotion on the UK mainland through 25 Records.
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Tech Problems Dampen Fire Fly (23rd May)

A whole host of technical problems appear to have put a dampener on Fire Fly's performance at Alton Towers on Saturday. The band had spent many hours working out careful sequencing, guitar effects and more, which were all lost when their borrowed keyboard malfunctioned and crashed the system. The band was reduced to just drums and bass, and then the cymbals broke... The band now have a new keyboard courtesy of some generous supporters and hope that future experiences won't push them back to their lower-tech roots.
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Delirious? Gig Cancelled (23rd May)

Furious? Records have announced that Saturday's Delirious? gig at Kensington Temple has been cancelled "due to unforseen circumstances in the organisation and set up of the gig", adding that this was beyond their control. Ticket holders will receive a letter within the next couple of days explaining the situation regarding refunds.
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Big Blue Sky Record at One Voice (24th May)

Tickets are being snapped up quickly for the One Voice event organised by Nameless Music in Aldershot, which will be recorded to hopefully appear as a live album later in the year. The event is on Saturday 17th June (the organisers know it clashes with the England vs. Germany football match) and will be led by Tim Sherrington and others from Nameless Music.
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Sheila Hamil Contest (24th May)

Sheila Hamil's webmaster has been in touch to let us know that there's a competition currently running on her website to win a copy of her latest CD. Keep an eye on Britlinks as we're soon going to be launching a contest to win tickets to Greenbelt and copies of IndigoEcho's latest album.
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Devoutly Awaited Compilation (24th May)

Two new tracks from Ikon are amongst those available on a new compilation just released in the USA. The Devout Artists Compilation is available from a number of online sources. Ikon have also announced that the United Kingdom clubnight in which they were both involved has been put on hold for finanial reasons.
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