The Labour Club, Earl Street, Northampton NN1
Friday 2nd November 2007
Masters of Budvar present
Last minute de-railments at tonight's Master of Budvar.
Important updates.
At the last moment, Tim Keegan has been in touch to report that he is bedridden with ME and, despite his
best endeavours, is simply too unwell to perform at tonight's Masters of Budvar. He apologises, can't
remember when he ever missed a show before. Masters of Budvar apologise, it's a terrible shame. We shall
take all steps to bring Tim and his band back as soon as it is possible.
Within an hour of that little bombshell we heard from DJ Flash. He - happily - is alive and well, but he
had forgotten that he was down to play out at this night and gone and got himself a load of work in Corby
instead. Well, fair enough, it's probably better paid for a start. So there we were. Eight o'clock the
night before the show and we were down two out of three artistes. Masters of Nothing Very Much.
Hasty revision, a phew phone calls and here's the situation.
EAGLEHEAD will headline. Rocking. http://www.myspace.com/eagleheaduk
WILL CARRUTHERS leader of the Freelovebabies, will open with an acoustic set.
http://www.myspace.com/freelovebabies
Tunes will be provided from the Archives of Budvar.
It's still going to be worth your time.
Labour Club NN1
8:30 tonight
Admission free
TIM KEEGAN & HIS BAND
http://www.myspace.com/timkeeganmusic
Tim Keegan is a wandering English songwriter, singer and rhythm guitar player. You might not have heard of him, but you should have, since Tim is one of the finest proponents of the thoughtful pop song this country has produced in recent years. The phrase 'uplifting melancholy' was coined with him in mind; he writes with warmth, optimism and empathy about the issues many of us grapple with on our treks through the emotional undergrowth. File him somewhere on the same shelf as Richard Hawley, King Creosote and Fran Healy of Travis, in the section marked 'Great Under-Appreciated Pop Troubadours' alongside Grant McLennan of the Go-Betweens, the Jazz Butcher and Jonathan Richman.
Tim Keegan has been putting out records on independent labels around the world in various guises since the mid 1990s. His best-known work in recent years has been as front man of Departure Lounge. He has also worked with Robyn Hitchcock, Kid Loco, Josh Rouse, French singing star Emilie Simon and Tahiti 80, among others.
Foreign Domestic is Tim Keegan's debut solo album. It was recorded in Nashville, Paris and London between January 2003 and November 2006. The album sleeve features a Velosolex - the bicycle with an engine - invented in France after the war as an economical and practical means of transport for the people, as they set about re-building their country. As Tim explains, "The songs are the bicycle, the production and arrangements are the engine, and I'm thinking too much, when I should just be enjoying the view. It's a document of the emotional trip I was on over this period, and fortunately for me it has a happy ending."
>From 1998 to 2002 Tim was the singer and principal songwriter of Departure Lounge. Their self-released debut, Out Of Here (Meek Giant1999) made album of the week in the Sunday Times. They called it "some of the most wonderful, eclectic, optimistic pop music being created at the moment". (It is also a favourite album at Masters of Budvar aftershow parties.)
The follow-up, Too Late To Die Young (Bella Union/Naive 2002), featuring "mercurial" (Uncut) production by Kid Loco, earned 4-star reviews from Q magazine and The Independent and was heralded by Magnet magazine in the US as "A top to bottom masterwork. Among the best English pop created in a decade."
Departure Lounge ceased operations in late 2002, and by this time Tim was living in Paris. He provided lead vocals for 6 tracks on Kid Loco's 2002 album Kill Your Darlings, and toured Europe with both Loco and Departure Lounge that year. Tim also collaborated with Kid Loco on a cover of Lee Hazlewood's If It's Monday Morning (a song written for Johnny Cash) for the tribute album, Total Lee (City Slang 2002).
During this time Tim had written and demoed a number of songs in his tiny Parisian atelier, and was encouraged by his friend Sam Ashworth to return to Nashville (where he had been living previously, performing his now legendary Living Room concerts, presenting a show on local radio station WRVU, and working at Grimey's record shop) to record some tracks in Ashworth's home studio. This was the first of three visits, which provided the backbone of Foreign Domestic.
Tim explains, "We gathered a small group of musician friends, ate a lot of Mexican food from the taco stand on the Gallatin Road, watched Cat Stevens videos and wrote and recorded through the nights."
Bringing the album home to Paris, Keegan tinkered with the tracks in his home studio in between working on album projects and collaborations with various French artists. He also held a residency at Paris' legendary music bar, the Pop-In, where his guests were Robyn Hitchcock, Kid Loco, Emilie Simon, and Xavier Boyer of Tahiti 80.
When he moved back to England at the end of 2004 Tim took the Foreign Domestic album recordings with him and teamed up with Chris Harrison at Morcheeba's Studio in London to finally complete the album and this chapter of his life.
"I had known Label Of Love chief Adrian Gibson since I first started playing music in London. He called me last year to say that he wanted to re-issue some of my back catalogue on a new label he was starting up. I said that would be great, but that actually I had this new album, which I'd quite like to come out first." When Gibson heard it he loved it and made it the first release on the new label.
. Press reaction to Foreign Domestic:
"Like a breath of cool, summer-scented air into an overheated room. fresh and understated, Foreign Domestic radiates a chipper Englishness that informs even the most doleful of these bitter-sweet pop songs with a quiet optimism" (The Word, July 2007)
'As with Tim's previous output, the emphasis here is on quality song writing - think vintage Lloyd Cole or The Go-Betweens." (Q, July 2007)
**** (Uncut, July 2007)
Catchy melodies underpinned by songs of regret and heartbreak. "There's always something if you go looking," sings Keegan and you may well find it on this album. (The Sun, August 2007)
"Some people never let you down." *ALBUM OF THE MONTH* (Magic Revue Pop Moderne, Aug/Sept 2007)
"Tim Keegan's is a voice made to sing of love and truth" (Les Inrockuptibles, July 2007)
Last time that Tim Keegan appeared at Masters of Budvar he found himself alone with an acoustic guitar against the might of Max Eider's Intercontinental Orchestra, despite which he very nearly stole the show with his perfectly-pitched songwriting and his amazing voice. This time he will be appearing with a four piece band. It's not to be missed.
EAGLEHEAD
http://www.myspace.com/eagleheaduk
The Eaglehead line-up consists of Chris Eaglehead on guitar, George Eaglehead on vocals and harmonica, with McGeorge Eaglehead on bass and Pete Eaglehead on drums. This four-piece performs and produces pristine product sporadically yet obsessively in Northampton, England. That's right, the Eaglehead band love to record and perform alt-retro music sounding like it was created in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
One of Northampton's longest-serving combos, the Eaglehead band are a soulful rocking combo fronted by the genuinely unique George, playing original songs alongside covers which veer wildly from R&B staples like "Who Do You Love" to Nick Cave's "Red Right Hand". Charming and darkly humorous, they should make for a cracking start to a top night.
SUPERSTAR DJ FLASH
Steve "Flash" Gordon, lead guitarist of Wilson, Emperor of P-Hex and all round Mister Music, NN1, will be on hand to play hot wax and dirty downloads to make your evening complete.
As usual this all kicks off at around half past eight at the Labour Club.
As usual, admission is free.
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