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[SMT PROMOTIONS]

SMT promotions present.....

JAMES APOLLO
@ The Tunnels
Wednesday 7th October

£5.00 advance
14 plus event
Doors - 7.30pm (tbc)

TICKETS ON SALE

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For fans of: Willy Mason, The Walkmen, Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Aracde Fire,

If he hadn't rolled up the river when he did, things would have been awfully different. "I'd be playing in a house band in Branson, or selling appliances of my porch.”

Fortunately for James, the Apollo clan moved up the river at a young age, leaving the old home of Libertyville, Arkansas behind, and heading for the sweet life of the upper Mississippi.

That early taste of the road stuck, and after striking out school, jobs, and the attention young ladies, James Apollo struck out himself, hitting the road in a kind of eternal tour of the US. "I was living in diners, sleeping in the trunk of my car, and playing a new town every night. I had it made."

James finished up a west coast tour and wound up living on a boat in San Francisco "when the land ran out." He describes it fairly dark times. "I had no one. I thought that's what i wanted. I'd write these songs about beauty and sadness and love and loss, but what did i know? I was captain of a sinking ship.”

After a night of drunken dares, Apollo moved to New York City. Inspired by the city's concrete canyons and his own Western longing, he released GOOD GRIEF (2006), an album the London Times called "Americana in the truest sense."

Apollo spent another year on the road, but his luck ran out when he got back to New York. In the summer heat, home for a few precious days between tours, he was returning home from a late-night rehearsal on an old motorcycle when a van ran a red light and flung Apollo 20 feet through the air. "I was in a cast from the waist down," he recalls. "I woke up in a haze of pain, fear and opiates."

He describes the event as “the best thing that's ever happened to me,” and explains, “New York City was tearing my heart out. Before the accident, I was a cruel, unhappy bastard, and my loved ones were getting mighty few. I needed a way out." It took 6 months before Apollo could walk again. But as he recalls, “I looked mighty good with a cane.”

From that dark experience, the bittersweet sounds of "HIDE YOUR HEART IN A HIVE" were born. The album caught the ear of the BBC, who invited Apollo to perform the first single, "I've Got It Easy," on-air. HIVE also captured the attention of the mainstream press in the US and UK, marking a line between Apollo's time playing half empty rooms, to the current days of enthused crowds.

Despite a savage touring schedule, Apollo found time to lock himself into a Brooklyn recording studio last winter to record his latest EP, ANGELS WE HAVE GROWN APART. The bowery bum orchestra features many of Apollo's New York coconspirators. It's these haunting tunes James Apollo will be playing when the born rambler and his hobo troupe tour the US, UK, and other parts of Europe throughout the year.

James Apollo
James Apollo on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads


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PLUS more tbc

Tickets available from:

TicketWeb /
TicketWeb

One up Records / Belmont Street

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SMT PROMOTIONS also bringing you in 2009:

THE SUNSHINE UNDERGROUND (Aug 26th @ The Lemon Tree)
TicketWeb

SLOW CLUB (Sept 27th @ The Tunnels)
TicketWeb

JAMES APOLLO (October 7th @ The Tunnels)
TicketWeb

THE WAVE PICTURES (October 17th @ Cafe Drummonds)
TicketWeb

and many more to come....

[Steven Milne]

Next Wednesday:
This guy has been getting cracking reviews...

Im opening up solo and more acts playing too!

[aekido]

been hearing nothing but good things about him, will try and make it down if i can afford it.

Busy gig week!

[Steven Milne]

Support for this comes from:
Tommy Tungsten (Euan Flaming Katy)
and more tba

[nullmouse]

This does sound rather lovely, I must say. Will swagger on down for this, like. Bit of Calexico in a few of his Myspace tracks too, to my ears at least.

[Andy Mulhern]

Originally Posted by Steven Milne

Support for this comes from:
Tommy Tungsten (Euan Flaming Katy)
and more tba

Ill be squeezing some accordion, and plucking some mandolin, along with Euan for this one.
Tommy Tungsten on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

[Steven Milne]

Stage Times:

7.30pm doors:
8pm - 8.30pm - Craig Scott (The Form)
8.40pm - 9.10pm - Steven Milne (The Little Kicks)
9.20pm - 9.50pm - Tommy Tungsten
10pm - James Apollo

[Steven Milne]

tonight!!!!