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The Unwinding Hours + Katerwaul @ The Tunnels, 21st May


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interesting music promotions present

THE UNWINDING HOURS + KATERWAUL

Friday 21st May 2010

The Tunnels, Carnegies Brae, Aberdeen, AB10 1BF. Phone (01224) 211121

Doors 8pm

Tickets 6+bf in adv / 8 on door

Available from One-Up Records, Belmont Street, Aberdeen. Phone (01224) 642662 or http://www.ticketweb.co.uk

http://www.myspace.com/interestingmusic

http://www.thetunnels.co.uk

the_unwinding_hours_poster_lo-res.jpg

THE UNWINDING HOURS is the new musical project from Craig B and Iain Cook, former members of Glasgow's critically acclaimed and much loved Aereogramme.

Their debut self-titled album is an intensely rewarding experience with the literate flair of the song-writing effortlessly matched by Craig and Iain's musical ambition & creative scope. Avid cineastes, The Unwinding Hours acknowledge the influence of film on their work by taking their name from a reference buried deep within Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.

The Unwinding Hours started out as a means for Craig to record some of his songs with the help of Iain after the demise of Aereogramme, but with no plans for a commercial release or to play them live. As Iain grew more excited about the material, The Unwinding Hours became a collaborative project, with a very different character to the material they recorded as part of Aereogramme. The album was written and recorded throughout 2008 and 2009, in Iain's own Alucard Studios on the south side of Glasgow (only the drums were recorded elsewhere, by Paul Savage in Chemikal Undergrounds Chem19). The recording of the album was a leisurely process as Iain was busy with other projects throughout the year so, out of necessity, they only worked on the songs for a few hours a week or fortnight. As Iain says, "There were no expectations or deadlines, so it felt like a really enjoyable and relaxed way of trying out new ideas and seeing if they stuck."

The album opens with the gorgeous slow-burn of Knut: the longest track on the album at just under six minutes, its an elegant exercise in layered sounds and propulsive dynamics. Iain explains that "It was only during the final stages of the mix that we decided to try out vocals on the track and thats when it totally came to life for me and also tied the song in effectively with the rest of the album. I love this one now and I think it's a nice way to start the record." There Are Worse Things Than Being Alone juxtaposes sweet sounding elements like the acoustic guitar and strings with some very unsettling noise elements. The opening suggestion that "something's wrong..." develops gradually until, by the end of the song and the "Let me out of here, my love..." line, the sweetness is completely engulfed by wave after wave of noise, the creeping claustrophobia of a failing relationship.

So we touch on the subject matter that forms the beating heart of the album, something Craig is happy to clarify: The main themes throughout the record are of relationships: some ending, some starting, some going well, some going very, very badly. Traces attempts to capture that powerful, almost drunken, sensation you feel when a relationship is in its infancy; Child deals with the bitter end of another. There is an argument that wreckage (emotional or otherwise) recurs heavily throughout the course of the album: Annie Jane is named after a real shipwreck while the closing track, The Final Hour, emerged from its own period of prolonged upheaval. Initially recorded in a friend's Boston studio during Aereogrammes last tour of the US, The Final Hour demo was conceived with the rain hammering down on a dispiriting, traumatic tour and, as Iain points out, "the original demo definitely reflected that. So much so that I don't think Craig even wanted to listen to the song again let alone put it on the album, but I kept insisting it was a belter and that we should work on it. The refrain that Craig sings in the latter half of the song "I saw you..." is one of my favourite things he has written and I wanted the music to be devastatingly loud and slow."

Delighted with the end product of their recording sessions, Craig and Iain are already talking about starting work on songs for a second album although theres no prospect of altering the leisurely process of evolution thats been so successful for them on their debut. With such a critically acclaimed body of work already behind them with Aereogramme, The Unwinding Hours look set to expand and develop that legacy if their stunning ten track debut is anything to go by.

http://www.theunwindinghours.com

http://www.myspace.com/theunwindinghours

http://www.chemikal.co.uk

KATERWAUL is a 4-piece band from Aberdeen/shire, formed from the ashes of BENCH around three years ago. Theyve released two albums on their own Pessimist Records label - "Prologue" in 2007 and "Here There Is No Why" last summer - and supported the likes of Jeniferever, The Twilight Sad, Amusement Parks On Fire, They Died Too Young and Codes In The Clouds.

"Live, Katerwaul are impassioned unpredictable and at times absorbing. They understand arrangements instinctively and swings from periods of loose and delicately interwoven delayed guitar arpeggios and gentle falsetto, to moments of crashing, distorted bass-and-drum driven chaos. And back again. At times frenzied, at others fragile; Katerwaul know when they should and - crucially - should not live up to their name." (TREND MAGAZINE)

"Soulful crashing loud choruses. Emotional heartfelt interludes... refreshing, honest and vibrant. This is the soundtrack to one of life's greatest movies." (***** ITUNES)

"Beguiling, impassioned and cinematic beauty integrated with fits of sheer sonic anarchy" (THE FLY)

http://www.myspace.com/katerwaulmusic

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I'm pretty sure a dude in OneUp let this slip to me by accident, when I was buying the album - I'm not sure if he posts on here or not.

I must admit the album wasn't all I thought it was going to be. Knut is undoubtedly a beaut, but I'm finding the rest of it leaving me a little cold. Maybe a couple more listens will do it - but at the moment the Twilight Sad (sorry to bring em up) are winning hands down.

EDIT: I thought Katerwaul were dead?

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Who said Katerwaul were dead? Mwahahaha I laugh in that person's face. Was it Michael Vennart of Oceansize fame's last attempt to ruin me?

Seriously though we took a lot of time out (four months) to see if we still wanted to do it. I guess we really over did it with that last album taking so long then the mixing, then the advertising then the gigs. Then our last gig was so soul destroying we just wanted a break. So since we had no contractual obligation to gig or even practice we did just that.... but then we all went a bit mad and decided that it was time to come back. And now we're all refreshed from the break. We've two new songs in the works, but we're not trying to over work the machine. At the moment this is the only gig we've booked. But we're hoping to have gigs in June onwards.

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Who said Katerwaul were dead? Mwahahaha I laugh in that person's face. Was it Michael Vennart of Oceansize fame's last attempt to ruin me?

Seriously though we took a lot of time out (four months) to see if we still wanted to do it. I guess we really over did it with that last album taking so long then the mixing, then the advertising then the gigs. Then our last gig was so soul destroying we just wanted a break. So since we had no contractual obligation to gig or even practice we did just that.... but then we all went a bit mad and decided that it was time to come back. And now we're all refreshed from the break. We've two new songs in the works, but we're not trying to over work the machine. At the moment this is the only gig we've booked. But we're hoping to have gigs in June onwards.

So, the big Katerwaul comeback, what other incentive do you need?

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It pretty much picks up where AEREOGRAMME left off. But who would have it any other way? It is a grower too so stick with it Huw Gurden!

I guess we missed playing amazing gigs like this so we wanted to get back to it. Then this was the first offer we got in two months of radio silence. Its like a higher power calling to..... ok I'll shut up now.

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is this music interview with Craig B >> is this music? features The Unwinding Hours

The Unwinding Hours

The circle is complete... (interview by Stuart McHugh)

If Wings were the band the Beatles could have been then, in an admittedly different universe, The Unwinding Hours have a similar legacy to live up to and, as necessary, ignore, play down or obliterate.

From their beginning as stablemates to Biffy Clyro though the highs (er, is this music? issue 4 cover stars as well as rave reviews in the rock press) and the lows (a general wearing-down by the constant industry gigging/recording/gigging life cycle), Aereogramme provided a legacy-and-a-half for its former members to live up to. Even after their demise in 2007, there was the Barriers video, which soundtracked a TV job website campaign, and conceivably introduced the band to an audience larger than ever before.

But thats in the past now. And in the past it must remain. Now frontman Craig B and guitarist Iain Cook are back as The Unwinding Hours. Answering the questions: Craig B

Do you find it odd that theres a fair amount of adulation for the new album which Aereogramme didnt always seem to get?

Could it just be that this has come at the right time, or is it that the new stuff is that much more accessible?

Actually, Aereogramme did get a lot of great press. We were the type of smaller band that people wanted to champion so if we were going to get written about it was usually by a writer that was as frustrated with the music industry as we were and so wanted to write good things about us. The Unwinding Hours have had a great reaction here in Scotland (and Germany) and I think that has a lot to do with groundwork done by Aereogramme and yes, probably because its also more accessible.

I suppose the success of the Barriers video cant have hurt. Were there any thoughts of oh, if wed kept going 12 months or so more

Not at all. I dont think anyone regrets splitting the band up because it had certainly run its course. We put everything we possibly could into (final album) My Heart Has A Wish and it didnt change our circumstances so by the end of that album cycle we had had enough of hitting our heads against the wall. If we had still been around when we got the advert, I dont think it would have made a massive difference.

Did you personally feel that you might chuck music after Aereogramme, or did you always know that youd carry on i.e. it was a planned hiatus?

There were no plans at all, not even for starting up The Unwinding Hours. I didnt touch my guitar for over a year and then as things in my life changed I started to write. I knew I would start writing again, I just needed something to write about and then one month I just felt the need to write and it all came back.

I had written a lot of the demos for the last Aereogramme album around 2005 and I started writing properly again in 2008 so there was certainly a dry spell !

Youre working again with Iain of course - were you as likely to have worked solo, or could you have ended up doing stuff with Campbell or Martin if the planets had aligned differently?

It was always the four of us writing in Aereogramme. Everyone played their part. Martin had moved to London and Campbell was working with bands on tour all the time so it was just a case of them not being around when I started to record the demos with Iain. In fact Iain and I never intended to start up a band, he just slowly began to collaborate on the demos I was writing because it was something we always used to do. I dont like working on my own anyway. I really enjoy collaborating and Iain has always been a good musical sparring partner.

So will you do solo shows, or shows with the 2 of you stripped back?

I might do the odd acoustic gig here and there but The Unwinding Hours live needs a full band and is much better that way. I cant see any reason right now to do anything stripped back.

Were you consciously aware of trying to pursue some sort of new direction - on record theres more space, even more of an acoustic feel in places - or was that inevitable given the lineup?

There are only two tracks on the album that use an acoustic guitar so I dont think it has more of an acoustic feel but yes, I would agree there is maybe more space on certain songs. I can never get away from my love of dynamics and that has carried over into The Unwinding Hours. It may not be as extreme as Aereogramme was but certain songs on the UH album are very quiet but some are epic. In There Are Worse Things Than Being Alone you get both extremes!

Its obvious that you still enjoy noise as well as the more delicate aspects of song creation (especially from the live show). Did you imagine, when you were writing songs for the new album, that youd eventually end up in a rock band again?

We really didnt look ahead. We just wrote what we wanted and then we would work it out later. So once the album was finished and we were asked to do our first gig at Celtic Connections we knew we had to get a band together. We use some of Glasgows finest session musicians who are also good friends so it has worked out well.

And is there any danger that you could fall into the traps that were the reasons for Aereogramme splitting?

I doubt it. Aereogramme toured constantly and said yes to every support slot we could get but we cant do that and dont really want to either. The way the music industry is right now, it would make no sense to try and go out on the road and play everywhere to somehow make the band a success. That would be a financial and personal disaster. Im happy to take our time slowly writing and releasing music when the time is right. And playing where and when we can.

The Unwinding Hours debut album is out now on Chemikal Underground.

The Unwinding Hours

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