Tumbleweed frontman Richie Lewis recently launched his solo project Richie Weed with the single Pure Evil, and this week he returns with his second single Lady Of Avalon, along with the announcement of his debut record Strays which comes next month via Farmer & The Owl. Although it is Richie’s solo project he has enlisted an array of friends to record the record and bring it to life on the stage. The Dandelion singer Natalie De Silver is on guitar, flute and organ, while long time collaborator Matt Houston fills the bass roll and fellow Tumbleweed member Steve O’Brien is on the drums. There is also contributions from members of The Pinheads, Dropping Honey and The Escarpment. It was all pulled together in Jez Player’s Stanwell Park studio The Shed. The results are a raw record that takes on elements of psych, country and new wave punk. The album is meant to be listened to as an album and along with Richie we discussed some ways to get people to do this, coming up with the idea of releasing the vinyl first (with digital download) and then the tracks will hit streaming monthly over the rest of the year. Who knows if this will work, but traditional release plans are out the window these days and I’m excited to try out some new plans with releases going forward. You can grab the pre order and listen to the new single Lady Of Avalon below.
Record Store Day has come around so quickly this year and is happening next Saturday April 20th. While we don’t have any instore happening this year we will have plenty of Record Store Day titles in stock (list will be out mid next week) and we also have lots of other great stock. Over the years we’ve had some very massive days hosting many bands and while this year we’ve stripped that back a bit to focus on the records, it is still and incredible day and I love catching up with so many of you. I thought for this week’s column I’d take a look back at some epic Record Store Day’s over all the years at both out Crown Land and current Keira Street location.
Ten years ago we hosted the The Pinheads first ever live show for Record Store Day, it was chaos as a lot of the early gigs from the band were, but it was so much fun, we were in the Crown Lane space then so we had plenty of room. A year before that there was an epic Record Store Day set from Shining Bird (with friends Bored Nothing and Tiny Ruins among others), I remember the rain being torrential and on that tin roof was so loud, it miraculously stopped just in time for their set. One of the first Record Store Day’s we hosted at our current Keira Street location was when Hockey Dad played to launch their first ever vinyl, it was the first pressing of their debut EP Dreamin, they were already building a lot of buzz by this time and it was very packed in here. A few years later local legends Tumbleweed released their self titled album on vinyl for the first time and celebrated by playing the album live in full on the day, for an album that was so important to me, it was a really special moment.
Shining Bird at Record Store Day 2013.
If you’re not following it already, I regularly update my now playing playlist with my favourite latest releases along with the occasional reissue track or other tunes that have made their way back into my orbit recently.
If you want to see me playing records in real life, you can catch me over the next few weeks at these places!
Friday April 12th – Howlin Wolf, Wollongong (Party Hits)
Saturday April 13th – Howlin Wolf, Wollongong (Party Hits)
Friday April 19th – Howlin Wolf, Wollongong (w/ Jimmy BYO, all 00’s, all night)
Saturday April 20th – Howlin Wolf, Wollongong (Party Hits)
Friday April 26th – Bouquiniste, Kiama (Around The World vibes - Afrobeat, City Pop, Zamrock, ect)
Saturday April 27th – Howlin Wolf, Wollongong