WAGONS - back in town for two shows only!

95bFM, SPUNK, WE MANAGE, NATIVE TONGUE
& GUNSLINGERS BALL PRESENTS

WAGONS

For release 8am Thursday 3rd July 2014

Back in town for two shows only WAGONS with support from SWAMPLAND and WILL WOOD

AUCKLAND - Friday 29th August, Tuning Fork
Tickets onsale 8am Thursday 3rd July www.ticketmaster.co.nz

LEIGH - Saturday 30th August, Leigh Sawmill
Tickets onsale 8am Thursday 3rd July from www.undertheradar.co.nz
& Real Groovy (Auckland)

Once seen, Wagons are one of those bands that are impossible to forget, leaving a deep and smile-inducing imprint on the brain. Led by the unique swagger of renaissance man Henry Wagons, they are a bunch of facial hair wielding tall timber, reminiscent of decades past; when bands gave their audience back bucket loads of charm and were always shrouded in a little enigmatic mystery. Unanimously lauded as one of one of Australia's great live bands, they relentlessly provide a stomping floor fracturing show no matter which stage they take over.

Drawing on a broad-ranging swag of influences, the Wagons show is a high sensation roller coaster ride that ranges from the bluster of sweaty jumpsuit era Elvis, post karate kicks, to the somber, drunken malaise of Lee Hazelwood. They can touch on the tenderness of a recently heart-broken Roy Orbison while simultaneously embracing the menace of Nick Cave, bloody and embryonic after a Halloween séance performance.

The past few years have seen Wagons share stages around the world with Lucinda Williams, Justin Townes Earle, Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zero’s, Calexico, Bill Callahan, Will Oldham, Okkervil River, John Hiatt plus more along with SXSW, Canadian Music Week and Americana showcases, plus festival appearances at Big Day Out, Bumbershoot (USA), Laneway Festival, Bluesfest, Boogie, Pyramid Rock, Falls Festival and loads more.
The band have just released their sixth studio album ‘Acid Rain & Sugar Cane’ produced by Mick Harvey (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey) and mixed by Matt Linesch, famous for his work with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros records.

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ACID RAIN & SUGAR CANE ALBUM BIO

“Hold on Caroline, hold on for your life, We’re gonna go on the ride of your life”

So starts the sixth Wagons album, “Acid Rain and Sugar Cane”. It’s both an introduction and an invitation to an unforgettable musical journey.

Co-produced by Mick Harvey (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey), “Acid Rain and Sugar Cane” is a multi-layered masterpiece filled with drinking songs and driving songs (though never the two shall meet).

Sonically, the album showcases the ragged glory of Wagons – the rumbling rhythm section of Mark “Tuckerbag” Dawson and Si the Philanthropist, and the guitar interplay between Richard Blaze and Long John Guscott.

Following Henry Wagons’ solo release, “Expecting Company?”, an album on which Henry played all the instruments, he couldn’t wait to get back into a room with his longtime bandmates to help him complete his songs in a more tried and true, rock ’n’ roll methodology: Louder, grittier … defiantly all together.

“We were very much inspired by The Band and Bob Dylan's The Basement Tapes, as well as the epic but organic recordings of bands like Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros,” Henry explains. “We wanted the record to sound very obviously like a band playing together in a room, capturing that sense of live performance at the core, but also augmented by the grand scope of the cinematic, trippy orchestral arrangements from the ’70s.”

The band was joined by some very special guests, including the Saskwatch horn section, City and Colour’s Matt Kelly on pedal steel, The Drones’ Steve Hesketh on honky tonk piano, and The Nymphs on backing vocals, while Mick Harvey regularly exercised his multi-instrumentalist skills on piano, organ, synth, guitar and percussion.

“Mick played on every song,” Henry says. “It was as if he joined the band. I just wanted a dash of the magic he’d given so many amazing records over the years. He gave us that and so much more.”

Recorded at Wagons’ Goldview Studio in Mount Martha, Henry helped mix the album in LA with Matt Linesch (Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros). In their initial Skype chat, Henry was confronted by a man with wild hair, a beard, outrageous jewellery and an unbuttoned shirt. “It was like I was looking in a mirror.”

Henry loved the “vintage immensity” of Linny’s work. He also enjoyed walking the halls of the Ocean Way Studios, surrounded by pictures of heroes such as Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, the Stones and Brian Wilson.

“Acid Rain and Sugar Cane” defies categorisation. It’s spontaneous, collaborative and unpredictable, combining elements of classic rock, bad boy boogie, gangsta country and prog rock – often in the one song.

It displays Henry’s poetic writing (he sings about “a single leaf on an autumn tree”); his eye for detail (“a sesame seed stuck in your teeth”), and his dark humour (“the drunken uncle comfy on the couch – he don’t want to leave”).

The album also reveals diverse drinking tastes, with Henry referencing some of his favourite tipples, drinks not often referenced in song: Campari & soda, gin & tonic and whisky & soda.

What’s your poison?

In essence, “Acid Rain and Sugar Cane” is the realisation of the band’s vision of a glorious and badass Vegas production. The result is something for everyone. There’s melodrama, there’s menace and there’s mirth – in spades.
Take a few sips of your favourite cocktail, climb out of the hammock and follow Wagons on this new journey ...

Released: May 2014 through Spunk/Universal

www.wagonsmusic.com
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