There is a classic tour bus scene in Ladies and Gentlemen…The Fabulous Stains where Fee Waybill’s Lou Corpse character goads Ray Winstone’s angry young Billy by pontificating on how everything (musically) has been done before and how nothing (and especially Winstone’s gang of Looters’ take on punk) was new. Although his spiel is overly cynical, his argument has merit. Often, anything truly special either flies so far under the radar that its creators bang their heads against the wall until they no longer have heads to bang or gets stale quickly as copycats are mass-produced for the inevitable sell-out and cash-in. If everything has been done, adventure-seekers must look to those doing it differently or those putting a new spin on something old. A good example of pioneering spirit is English nautical juggernaut British Sea Power who have looked far into the past to record a brand spanking new score to the 1934 “docufiction” Man of Aran.
The band will release their archipelago-loving accompaniment on May 18 in an original film DVD + soundtrack CD package. Exactly a month before that issue date BSP will preview their new music at the Duke of Yorks in Brighton and again at the British Film Institute Southbank venue on April 23 (alongside a screening of the film, I presume). Here are the band’s upcoming live shows, including a spattering of festival dates.
Something old, something new..
04.18.09 - Brighton, England - Duke of Yorks #
04.23.09 - London, England - British Film Institute #
06.20.09 - Kent, England - Port Lympne Wild Animal Park
07.18.09 - Cheltenham, England - 2000 Trees Festival
08.06.09 - Ledbury, England - Eastnor Castle Deer Park, The Big Chill Festival
08.07.09 - Lancaster, England - Morecambe Library, Get it Loud in Libraries
08.16.09 - London, England - Open Air Festival
08.21.09 - Brecon Beacons, Wales - Glanusk Park, Green Man Festival
08.22.09 - Chelmsford, England - Hylands Park, V Festival
08.23.09 - Staffordshire, England - Weston Park, V Festival
# playing Man of Aran soundtrack
