Hall of Ghosts - Spring gigs

I'm about to go back on the road again this week, playing several acoustic concerts across the U.K., once again opening for Albert Lee. I also have another special gig announcement coming soon for late June.

In the meantime, here are the new dates :

April 28th Aberdeen, Lemon Tree
May 2nd Berwick, Maltings
May 7th Leeds, City Varieties
May 10th Ravenshead, Stetson
May 12th Shrewsbury, Theatre Severn
May 26th Caernarfon, Galeri
June 1st Swindon, Arts Centre
June 2nd Wavendon, Stables
June 5th Banbury, Mill Arts Centre

Ian Powell will hopefully join me on stage in Shrewsbury and Caernarfon.

Additional Moog reunion

A recent private party for a family friend at Hendre Hall in North Wales was the scene of a mini "Additional Moog" reunion as drummer Ian Powell joined me on stage to perform together as "Hall of Ghosts" for the night.

It's the first time we've played live together since 2009 and I have to say it was more satisfying to play together as an acoustic guitar / small drum kit duo than any gig I ever did with Additional Moog as a 3/4/5 piece band.

Along with a slew of selected cover songs, we played the Additional Moog songs "Alaska", "Four Track Soul" and "Leaving City Skyline" whilst rocking our way through "Bye Bye, Big Blue" and "We Are Fin..." off the latest Hall of Ghosts album.

Ian will hopefully be playing on a couple more gigs in May.

More info coming soon..

The Album Is Out + Tour Update

"A Random Quiet" is now out on CD and download. Bandcamp's the best place to go, although iTunes and Amazon are also selling the record.

Readers of Rock & Reel-R2 magazine should keep an eye out for the next edition which is set to feature a track from the album on the monthly cd.

The tour, supporting Albert Lee, is going well. It's been great meeting people after the shows too.

Here is what's coming up for Hall of Ghosts into the summer, tour-wise :

April
22 Eastbourne, College Theatre  England
23 Bognor, The Regis Centre  England
27 Musselburgh, Brunton Theatre  Scotland
28 Kinross, Live At The Green  Scotland
29 Aberdeen, The Lemon Tree  Scotland

May
1 Glasgow, The Ferry   Scotland
3 Castle Douglas, Lochside Theatre Scotland
5 Mickleton, Mickelton R&B Club  England
11 Ravenshead, The Stetson   England
13 Shrewsbury, Theatre Severn  England
15 Coleraine, Riverside Theatre  N. Ireland
16 Letterkenny, An Grianan   Ireland
17 Armagh, Market Place   N. Ireland
19 Omagh, Strule Arts Centre  N. Ireland
24 Listowel, St. John's   Ireland
26 Bray, Mermaid Arts Centre  Ireland
27 Caernarfon, Galeri   Wales

June
1 Hereford, The Courtyard Theatre  England
2 Wavendon, The Stables   England
7 Haverhill, Arts Centre   England
9 Pontypridd, Muni Arts Centre  Wales

For booking, contact the venue directly.

Spring Tour Dates

Hall of Ghosts tour dates have now been confirmed for spring 2012. I'll be playing shows in the UK, Europe, Ireland and Northern Ireland, supporting Albert Lee.

I'll be reworking some of the songs from "A Random Quiet" for an acoustic setting, together with selected tunes from both Additional Moog albums and interpretations of material from a few other songwriters.

Tour Dates - Spring 2012

Sat 3 March     Swindon, Arts Centre              England
Sun 4 March    Winchester, Railway                England
Thu 8 March    Dortmund, FHH                      Germany
Sun 11 March  Harsefeld, Hotel Eichorn          Germany
Fri 16 March    Rubigen, Muehle Hunziken      Switzerland
Mon 19 March Salzburg, Rockhouse              Austria
Sun 1 April       Hoorst, Kasteelboerderij        Netherlands
Thu 5 April       Norwich, Arts Centre             England
Sat 7 April        Deal, Astor Theatre                England
Sun 22 April     Eastbourne, College Theatre   England
Mon 23 April   Bognor, The Regis Centre       England
Fri 27 April      Musselburgh, Brunton Theatre Scotland
Sat 28 April     Kinross, Green Hotel               Scotland
Sun 29 April    Aberdeen, Lemon Tree            Scotland
Tue 1 May      Glasgow, The Ferry                  Scotland
Thu 3 May      Castle Douglas, Lochside         Scotland
Sat 5 May       Mickleton, Mickleton R&B      England
Fri 11 May      Ravenshead, Stetson Club       England
Sun 13 May    Shrewsbury, Theatre Severn     England
Tue 15 May    Coleraine, Riverside Theatre    N. Ireland
Wed 16 May   Letterkenny, An Grianan          Ireland
Thu 17 May    Armagh, Market Place             Ireland
Sat 19 May    Omagh, Strule Arts Centre       N. Ireland
Thu 24 May    Listowel, St. John's                  Ireland
Sat 26 May    Bray, Mermaid Arts Centre       Ireland
Sun 27 May   Caernarfon, Galeri                    Wales
Fri 1 June       Hereford, Courtyard                 England
Sat 2 June      Wavendon, The Stables             England
Thu 7 June     Haverhill, Arts Centre                England
Sat 9 June     Pontypridd, Muni Arts Centre    Wales

www.albertleeandhogansheroes.com

CDs are here! Pre-order now

Limited edition cd copies of the debut Hall of Ghosts album are here. The first run is an edition of only 200. Pre order now at http://hallofghosts.bandcamp.com

£10 inc download version. For a limited period also inc p&p for UK, Europe and US.

Stream the album @ Bandcamp

"A Random Quiet" will release next spring.

In the meantime, you can listen to the whole album right now at Bandcamp and - for a limited time - get a 20% discount when you pre-order the album in download format. (CD coming soon!)

Go here : http://hallofghosts.bandcamp.com/ to hear the album.

These are the formats the album will be released in :

CD (limited edition with colour artwork & booklet)

HD FLAC Download (High resolution 24/96 FLAC - studio quality)

MP3 (320kbps lossy - iTunes compatible)

The Album Is Ready !

"A Random Quiet", the debut album from Hall of Ghosts, is ready to go ! It will be immense.

Acclaimed mastering engineer Bob Katz put the finishing touches to the 8 song album which will be released in Spring 2012.

The track list is :

1 Bye Bye, Big Blue
2 Giant Water
3 We Are Finally Happy For Standing Still
4 Volunteers
5 Tonight, It's Over
6 Hall of Ghosts
7 The Wandering
8 A Random Quiet

Look out for a single coming soon from the album. The entire release will also be streamed in advance on Bandcamp with the chance to pre-order the CD at a discount.

Tour dates for 2012 are now being worked on.

Album & Tour Update

I'm getting near the finishing post for the album "A Random Quiet".

I'm still working on the last track. It's called "The Wandering" and it starts off with an electric piano, some picked acoustic guitar and tom-toms. Electric guitars and straight-ahead drums hit in the chorus.

I hope to finish recording and mixing in the next week, before finalising the running order and sending off the tapes for mastering.

You may have already listened to or downloaded some of the tracks on this website. Those early mixes will soon be taken down, to replaced with the finished, mastered versions.

The album will be preceded by a download single, available through Bandcamp. You'll be able to get it in FLAC, Apple Lossless and mp3. The single should be out before Christmas, with the album released in the New Year. "A Random Quiet" will also be made available on CD through Bandcamp and CDBaby, as well as selected record stores and at gigs.

Tour dates are currently being finalised for March & April 2012. I'll be going out solo and performing acoustic guitar renditions of the songs from the album, along with the odd Additional Moog tune. Gigs are being arranged for Germany, Switzerland, UK, Northern Ireland & Ireland.

Album artwork

Here's a preview of the album cover :

I'm currently mixing the opening track "Bye Bye, Big Blue" which is my favourite of the songs at the moment. Coming soon - a video previewing the songs as they were recorded & mixed.

Album Update

Looks like a rethink is on the cards. I already mixed a track called "Old Computer Instrumental" for the album but its sibling "I Remember Old Computer" (no musical relation) will just not hang together right and one song won't work without the other on the album.

I think I'm going to save that pairing for a future single or EP and write and record a new song specifically for the album. Sonically, it might work better as the Computer songs have that great 8 bit synth sound on them but they might no sit well next to the guitar-based songs.

That means the album will most likely be 8 songs which is great because a) I can think of plenty of classic albums I enjoy that have only 8 songs and b) some of the songs are longer than the usual 3-4 minutes so the running time will still clock in at about 35-40 mins which is good for the old attention span.

The artwork for the album has been photographed too (Sample coming soon) and now I'm deciding on what to call this recording.

Giant Water

Another new song today. Giant Water was one of the first new songs written for this LP.

Giant Water (mp3) by hallofghosts

Giant Water


Step into the giant water
I'm listening
Though I am shouting at the top of my lungs
Let the water surround you
Time is forgotten
I'm holding your hand
Forever
The tide won't take us down
Though I'm fearful
Of the hated clouds coming round
Nothing will break us again
I swim slow-motion
No ending
The years we knew like ripples
They fall through your hands
Come with me
No rescue
A lifetime treading water
It comes speeding past
Forever
The tide won't take us down
Though I'm fearful
Of the hated clouds coming round
Nothing will break us again
This isn't happening
I won't believe in it this day
Shivers shaded me from hue
Red to blue
The days grow shorter
In the giant water
Step into the giant water
I'm listening

Mix Update

One more song done and dusted : Old Computer Instrumental which will be winging its way to this website very soon. Just got to decide whether I like it's laid back, spacey feel or whether to varispeed it up a bit. It's actually an old Additional Moog demo - more about that next time. Anyways, if you recall Nintendo SNES and Sega Master system circa 89-91 then this one's for you.

The song I'm in the middle of mixing right now is a new one called Giant Water. This has maybe got an ELO/Jeff Lynne meets Gram Parsons thing going in. It's taking some mixing because there are several layers of guitars that need to be interwoven correctly. I likes it.

You'll notice I don't really do Twitter as yet and I'm highly unlikely to join Facebook. However, feel free to share links and mp3's yo'selves, at least until the CD/24 bit download of the album is ready!

Volunteers

Volunteers by hallofghosts

"Volunteers" is the second track to be mixed from the upcoming LP. It's a fairly uptempo rock tune with a bit of a soul feel to it.

I am a volunteer in this life 
giving myself without return
there's nothing answered in me

I am a translator of your heart
open sky and empty road
this is what we planted

I'll not come up for air
a grey-blue abyss
like an empty kiss

We are all just volunteers
fighting a lost cause
as a lifetime rolls out to the past
I know this will last
I know we will last

I am a visitor to your dreams
even though we'll never meet
you'll feel me living on through you

I am an evergreen on this hill
weather was never my enemy
not when I had you near to me

I'll not come up for air
a grey-blue abyss
like an empty kiss

We are all just volunteers
fighting a lost cause
as a lifetime rolls out to the past
I know this will last
I know we will last

I'll hear you singing
in an unlocked room
your smile is with me always
i'll hold on tight so you won't let go
don't leave me on my own
don't leave me on my own

We are all just volunteers
Here we are




If you like : Neil Young, the Band, Wilco, REM

We Are Finally Happy For Standing Still

Hall of Ghosts - We Are Finally Happy For Standing Still by hallofghosts


Mixing has begun. The first track I'm working on is a rocky pop song, "We Are Finally Happy For Standing Still". This was one of the first new songs written for Hall Of Ghosts. I'll post the track up here soon :

In a glass house
there is room to run out
there is space to believe

Early morning dust
to the daylight thrust
this is something I need

And now I'm ready
I think I'm ready

Sing out loud
it's getting simpler now
I disappear in a horseless town

How old are we?
inside a photograph
we live again where the pages part

And now I'm ready
I think I'm ready

We are finally happy for standing still
I can feel myself loving you
we are finally living 
for going nowhere
and this is us I'm talking about

On the far frontier
where the message is clear
we'll hibernate 'til the summer breaks

Give me endless air
hold me into the chair
I'm given all unto gravity

And now I'm ready
I think I'm ready

We are finally happy for standing still
I can feel myself loving you
we are finally living
for going nowhere
and this is us I'm talking about

I was lonely out on the rail
slowly coming undone
but you helped me change
yeah, you changed me

Welcome to Hall Of Ghosts

I've nearly finished recording the first Hall Of Ghosts album so it's time to go public.

Demos for my new "solo band" began in 2010 when I decided to return to a one man recording project, after several years of gigging and recording in the alt.country/indie band Additional Moog. The music for Hall Of Ghosts is a natural extension/progression of the material written for Admoog.

Nine songs will make up the new, as yet untitled, album. They are "The Volunteers" / "Hall Of Ghosts" / "We Are Finally Happy For Standing Still" / "Old Computer Instrumental" / "I Remember Old Computer" / "Tonight, It's Over" / "Bye Bye, Big Blue" / "A Random Quiet" / "Giant Water".

I'll start mixing the album this April and hope to get it out for the summer. There'll be a CD along with mp3 and 24 bit FLAC versions. In the meantime, mixes and work in progress will be posted on this site via Soundcloud.

Get in touch at : hallofghosts<at>gmail<dot>com