‘MY BONES’ PR COURTESY OF DIVISION PRESS:
Tom Williams And The Boat
New Single ‘Teenage Blood’, released April 9th
Moshi Moshi Records/Wire Boat Recordings
HYPERLINK "http://www.tomwilliamsandtheboat.co.uk" \t "_blank" www.tomwilliamsandtheboat.co.uk | HYPERLINK "http://www.pledgemusic.com/tomwilliamsandtheboat" \t "_blank" www.pledgemusic.com/tomwilliamsandtheboat
HYPERLINK "http://www.moshimoshimusic.com" \t "_blank" www.moshimoshimusic.com
Tom Williams and The Boat is set to release the second single ‘Teenage Blood’ on April 9th, the title track taken from the forthcoming album available on April 16th via Moshi Moshi Records/Wire Boat Recordings.
A big country rock stomper of a track, ‘Teenage Blood’ sets the tone for the new album from the get -go, with its lilting harmonies and instant chorus. With a nod to cult heroes including Nick Cave, Tom Petty, Leonard Cohen to Teenage Fan Club, the song is crafted with the hallmarks that Tom Williams’ fans have come know lyrically; his poetic sharp wit and heart-felt tales of love lost. The title track dwells on the ‘sense of genetic inevitability’, of a broken relationship and its effects on the human psyche.
In keeping with the band’s homegrown ethics and independent approach, Tom Williams & The Boat partnered with PledgeMusic in November 2011, marking a new approach to the album’s conception. The band wanted to offer their fans the chance to be intimately connected to the album process from the very beginning by offering them creative collectables and exclusive experiences of their choosing as a reward for their loyal support. To read more on the Moshi Moshi/PledgeMusic partnership, click HYPERLINK "http://www.pledgemusic.com/tomwilliamsandtheboat" HERE.
Tom Williams & The Boat started work on their second album, 'Teenage Blood' in March 2011. Recorded in their long time HQ - a working brewery, in the heart of the Kent countryside, BBC engineer Simon Askew was yet again behind the mixing desk.
Formed in 2007, Tom Williams & The Boat met in a local music venue in Tunbridge Wells. It wasn’t long before the group began to attract the attention of Steve Lamacq and Huw Stephens on BBC Radio's 2 and 1 respectively, whilst also playing Radio 1's Big Weekend and recording sessions for Radio 1 with Huw Stephens. Tom Williams & The Boat also played Glastonbury via the festivals own 'Emerging Talent Competition' and Latitude on the Lake Stage. They self-released their debut album 'Too Slow’ in February 2011, on the 'Wireboat Recordings' label which received extensive radio support from the BBC introducing network and BBC 6 music on its release.
LIVE DATES
Tom Williams & The Boat will headline The Bull & Gate on March 22nd as part of BBC 6 Music’s Tenth anniversary celebrations. The hosts Club Fandango have curated a night dedicated to acts championed by the station over the years.
Gig listing: HYPERLINK "http://www.clubfandango.co.uk/gig.php?id=2301" \t "_blank" http://www.clubfandango.co.uk/gig.php?id=2301
Doors: 7:45
£6 o.t.d./£5 advance/flyer
Advanced tickets: HYPERLINK "http://www.wegottickets.com/bullandgate/event/156130" \t "_blank" http://www.wegottickets.com/bullandgate/event/156130
LINKS:
HYPERLINK "http://www.tomwilliamsandtheboat.co.uk" \t "_blank" www.tomwilliamsandtheboat.co.uk
HYPERLINK "http://www.pledgemusic.com/tomwilliamsandtheboat" \t "_blank" www.pledgemusic.com/tomwilliamsandtheboat
HYPERLINK "http://www.moshimoshimusic.com" \t "_blank" www.moshimoshimusic.com
For more information contact Nazlee Jannoo [PRINT + ONLINE] – HYPERLINK "mailto:Nazlee@divisionpromotions.com" Nazlee@divisionpromotions.com/ 020 8962 8282
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Biography
Tom Williams & the Boat – by Joe Skrebels
After five years as a band, encompassing five EPs and two albums, Kent-based six-piece Tom Williams & the Boat might appear fully-formed but, with the release of their second album, Teenage Blood, they’re only just beginning to reveal their true colours.
After leaving school, and having mastered saxophone, violin and guitar, Tom began to play his first solo shows. It was at these shows and others centred around Tunbridge Wells’ Forum and Grey Lady venues, that Tom would meet Anthony Vicary, Geri Holton, Chris Stewart, Josh Taylor and David Trevillion, the individuals who would go on to form The Boat in early 2007. Little did they know the significance of the venues at which they had met. The Forum is operated by the owners of Kent-based indie label Unlabel, themselves former members of celebrated post-hardcore band Joeyfat, whose singer, Matt Cole, had profoundly influenced Tom’s vocal and lyrical style as he grew up in the area. After Tom’s first show had been played at the venue, Unlabel’s interest was piqued, and in October 2007 they released the band’s first recorded work, the Penguin EP, a collection of upbeat folk-pop coupled with Tom’s narrative lyrical style that would set the tone for future releases. Despite an extremely limited release, Penguin quickly gathered support, culminating in the band’s first radio play courtesy of Steve Lamacq in his “Favourite New Band” feature on Radio 2. Unlabel’s influence had inspired the band, and for the release of their second EP, February, they set up their own label, Wire Boat Recordings. Wire Boat has since acted as an independent source for the band’s recordings, as well as an outlet for other up-and-coming artists they admire.
February soon garnered more support, with local radio play for their track ‘Train Station Car Park’ catapulting them into the BBC Introducing stable, after which Radio 1’s Huw Stephens became a vocal champion (later even personally booking them for Latitude festival). After playing Radio 1’s Big Weekend festival in 2009, the band were invited to record a session at the BBC’s Maida Vale studio, during which they met producer Simon Askew. Askew impressed the band with his skill at producing live performances, a quality that led the band to ask him to record their next double A-side, ‘90mph/Too Slow’, followed by re-recording tracks from their first four EPs, which would form the base of their debut album. However, a national tour supporting Stornoway in 2010, and the necessity for a support band to engage their audience, opened Tom’s eyes to the need for a darker edge to the band. His interest in folk music stemmed from a love of storytelling, and the association of the genre with a traditional, pastoral style did not sit well with how The Boat wanted to be portrayed. As such, their next recordings, songs like the biting ‘See My Evil’ and ‘Get Older’, took on a far more visceral, direct style drawn from musical anti-heroes such as Nick Cave and Tom Waits.
This darker set of songs solved the puzzle of how the band’s debut album should take shape and, after a 2010 that saw them roadtest their new material with shows across the country - including an extraordinary five sets at Glastonbury as finalists in the festival’s annual Emerging Talent competition - 2011 saw them release the acclaimed Too Slow, an album that encompassed both the band’s early, youthful recordings and the grittier releases that followed them. The album gained a huge amount of support from BBC 6 Music, with singles ‘Concentrate’ and ‘Get Older’ playlisted and sessions for Steve Lamacq and Lauren Laverne following – a huge achievement for an unsigned act. Once again, the band released the album through their own label, a brave decision that Tom puts down to an ‘emphatic sense of independence’ – the fact that the band had grown up, formed and played outside of London or any other musical scene forced them to forge their own path into the music industry and, after being inspired by Unlabel’s DIY approach, their releases on Wire Boat have followed suit. Recording, designing, hand-making and numbering their releases has never been simply an act for the band, but an integral part of how they connect to their music and their fans.
It was this very spirit of independence, individuality and hard work that drew celebrated indie label Moshi Moshi to the band. After seeing both their releasing style and their constant interaction with their fans through social media sites, the label expressed an interest in not only releasing their second album, but in letting the band keep their sense of identity as they did. Having worked with Summer Camp to release their debut through fan funding website PledgeMusic.com, Moshi Moshi saw an ideal opportunity to release The Boat’s second album whilst retaining the band’s personal touch. This has taken the form of a number of incentives offered for pledges towards the album’s creation, ranging from white label vinyl test pressings and unreleased demos to music lessons or even a painting by Tom (who has just completed a degree in Fine Art at Oxford). This scheme has offered the perfect opportunity for the band to record the album and keep in touch with their fans. A portion of the money raised will be donated to the Kent Air Ambulance charity, an organisation particularly close to Tom’s heart and further validation of their independent standpoint.
The recording of the album took a similarly independent stance. Recorded in a barn that doubles as working brewery in the rural heart of Kent, the band (again alongside Askew) have been able to retain every sense of the personal touch they love to apply to their music. Drawing from a pool of 130 songs written by Tom, early sessions, some starting as little as two weeks after the release of Too Slow, yielded 23 demos. Teenage Blood itself is made up of ten tracks that Tom says reflect a new, more focused approach for the band. After becoming obsessed with the idols of pop-rock’s history, such as Tom Petty, The Band and Loaded-era Velvet Underground, Tom decided to write songs that take the traditional song structures of that genre – repeated choruses, catchy hooks – and fill them with a subversive lyricism, an idea toyed with on Too Slow’s ‘90mph’ and brought to fruition with the likes of ‘Neckbrace (Big Wave)’on the new record, which takes the light melodic touches of classics such as Damn The Torpedoes or Bandwagonesque and matches them with a tale of loss and desperation. The result is a tight, narrative set of tracks that don’t so much form a concept as a series showing the progression of doomed love affairs – moving from youthful naïveté in ‘Too Young’ into ‘There’s A Stranger’s gut-punch realisation of the death of a romance (‘the best song I’ve ever written’, says Tom) and finally the ‘rolling credits’ of ‘Emily’, a depiction of the (re)birth of a new relationship. Teenage Blood’s consistent focus and narrative drive make for a more cohesive album than Too Slow; a mixture of the black and white polarity of their debut that explores new, captivating shades of grey - the spaces in between pop and alternative music, love and hate.
Tom Williams & the Boat have created an album that embraces both their roots and cements a new chapter in the band’s history. The independent release (Teenage Blood is a co-release between Moshi Moshi and Wire Boat), interaction with fans and Tom’s intuitive storytelling reflect what’s come to be expected of the band, but in a new-found love of classic pop structures and dark, heartbreaking narrative styles, there’s something entirely different about the album’s approach. Tom, when talking about those who inspire him says that he’s stayed ‘respectful of great songwriting, but [wants] to make something just as good’, and it’s that confidence which permeates Teenage Blood. Tom Williams & the Boat aren’t just a band who want to emulate their heroes any more - they want to match them without undermining their own history or the independence of thought and spirit they cherish, and with Teenage Blood, they might have done just that.
