Listen to the new track from third album 'Get Found' out 7 April 2017

March 2, 2017

Singer songwriter Ben Marwood unveils a brand new track ‘Bury Me In the Pantheon’ ahead of the release of his long awaited album Get Found on 7th April 2017. Preorder the album now from our online shop.

Listen to 'Bury Me In the Pantheon' below.

‘Bury Me In The Pantheon’ sees Ben at his best - his familiar flowing fingerstyle on the acoustic guitar and disarmingly affecting voice exemplifies why Ben Marwood is one of Xtra Mile Recordings’ most treasured artists.

The forthcoming album, Get Found, has been a long time in the making. After the successes of debut album Outside There’s A Curse (2011) and the follow-up Back Down (2013) – which include a sold out solo headline UK tour; a support run with Frank Turner across the US, and the very surreal spectacle of accompanying Mr Turner upon rolling green hills at his pre-show performance of the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony - Ben wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to or even want to play music again.

A third album was anything but inevitable at that point. Yet here we are, in 2017, warmly welcoming another Ben Marwood record. The album doesn’t stray far from its roots but plays with them tenderly. Pedal steel aches on ‘Enraptured’, while ‘DNFTTTS’ is pure andante piano melody. ‘Nights’ chugs and spits before bellowing into the most uplifting-sounding chorus about death you’ve heard yet – and there are plenty to come. “I’m not dead, I’m not dying, I just can’t get up,” confesses Ben on ‘I’m Wide Awake It’s Boring’ as one of just two songs that directly reference his mental and physical state of that difficult year. Penultimate song ‘The Devil Makes Work For Jazz Hands’ dwells on death and immobility again (“the weight of the world is locked on your shoulders forever”) before sliding in a slick guitar solo and resolving into a plea of “you should know that you can’t fear all of the things you fear in the dark”.

Confessional and demanding of attention – it’s great to have Ben Marwood back.

Coinciding with the release is Ben’s first tour in over three years – taking in some of the UK’s best independent venues. Support comes from label mate Non Canon, and on select dates, Helen Chambers.

Full dates are below and you can get tickets here.

APRIL
06 Brighton @ Brunswick*
07 London @ The Monarch*
08 Portsmouth @ Southsea Sound*
10 Bristol @ Crofters Rights*
11 Nottingham @ Bodega*
12 York @ Fulford Arms*
14 Edinburgh @ Opium
15 Glasgow @ Hug & Pint
16 Manchester @ Gullivers
*with Helen Chambers on these dates

Facebook / Twitter @benmarwoodmusic / www.benmarwood.com

Will Varley UK November 2017 tour announced

March 2, 2017

After selling out the Union Chapel in London, November 2016, rambling folk singer Will Varley announces his biggest headline tour to date, culminating with a show at London’s legendary Shepherds Bush Empire.

Momentum has been growing around the young troubadour since the release of his fourth studio album Kingsdown Sundown and this year he is poised to bring his music to an even wider audience. The album was released in November 2016 to rave reviews, reaching number 5 in the Official Independent Album Breakers Chart and receiving four stars from The Independent. You can buy it here.

Darkly comic, often politically-charged and always emotionally-loaded, Varley’s live shows have been drawing crowds across the world, and his headline tours have seen him selling out venues from Berlin to New York and everywhere in between. Last summer saw triumphant festival appearances at the likes of Glastonbury and Cambridge Folk Festival, with packed tents shouting along to every word.

The November tour dates are as follows and you can buy tickets here:

NOVEMBER 2017

15 Leeds @ Brudenell Social Club
16 Nottingham @ Rescue Rooms
17 Edinburgh @ La Belle Angele
18 Manchester @ Club Academy
21 Birmingham @ O2 Institute 3
22 Bristol @ Trinity Centre
23 Cardiff @ The Globe
24 Southampton @ 1865
25 London @ O2 Shepherds Bush Empire

It’s been a meteoric rise for the 29 year old who started self-releasing his albums and travelling around England on foot only five years ago. Since then he signed a deal with independent music champions Xtra Mile Recording and toured extensively across the UK, Europe and North America opening for supporter and label mate Frank Turner, Scottish heroes The Proclaimers and Billy Bragg.

facebook.com/willvarley / Twitter @WillVarleyMusic / www.willvarley.com

Johnny Lloyd 'Eden' EP Out 14 April 2017 // Listen to single 'Running Wild' // UK April Tour Dates

February 22, 2017

Johnny Lloyd will release details the Eden EP on 14 April 2017 through Xtra Mile Recordings. Preorder now in our online shop.

Listen to new single from the EP 'Running Wild'.

Produced by The Maccabees’ Hugo White and Mike Crossey (The 1975), the release comes just ahead of a seven-date headline tour including his biggest London show to date at Scala on 20 April. See dates below and book tickets here.

The Eden EP finds Johnny reuniting with White once again to produce new material between Los Angeles and The Maccabees’ Elephant and Castle studios. Along with Jamie T, White co-produced Johnny’s debut EP Dreamland, which Xtra Mile released last year to radio support from 6Music, Radio X and Radio 2, gaining a top 20 spot on the iTunes pop chart and over half a million streams online.

Speaking about the new release, Johnny says: “It was great working with Hugo White and Mike Crossey again. The Eden EP was recorded over a period of six months. Hugo brought so much to it and really put the hours in. 'Running Wild' was written in reaction to the live shows; for me the song is about being free and trying to find a place in the world. I’m very happy with how it’s sounding and looking forward to people hearing it.”

Eden EP tracklisting:

1. Running Wild
2. Karnival
3. Traffic
4. Eden

UK Tour Dates

APRIL
19 Birmingham @ The Sunflower Lounge
20 London @ Scala
21 Brighton @ Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar
22 Southmapton @ Joiners
24 Bristol @ The Louisiana
25 Manchester @ Soup Kitchen
28 Sheffield @ The Leadmill

"His music is proof that at the end of the day, good songwriting and musical talent reign supreme." – Pigeons and Planes

"Blends woozy, washed-out guitar work with a metronomic beat and languid vocals to create a warm psychedelic outing." – The Line of Best Fit

facebook.com/johnnylloydmusic // Twitter @JohnnyLloydUK

Beans on Toast 'Down The Pub Tour' May 2017 // Supporting #SaveOurPubs

February 22, 2017

Essex-born folk songwriter Beans on Toast will take to the road on a tour of some of the UK finest boozers and local pubs in May 2017.

The 'Down The Pub Tour' is a 19-day adventure from Preston to Bridgwater via Plymouth, Hastings and beyond paying homage to the classic British mainstay that is the public house, and inspired by the song 'Down the Pub' from his latest album A Spanner in The Works –released December 2016 on Xtra Mile Recordings. You can buy it here.

Those who head out for a night down the pub are in for a real treat as the Beans on Toast live show is an odd and unpredictable experience. A singer, storyteller and songwriter his self-deprecating quality is not something you often see, but it breaks down the barrier between musician and audience, creating a sense of equality.

He’s a hippy, a punk, a poet, a drunk, a die-hard romantic and an eternal optimist. Singing simple songs that tackle big issues: political protest songs for the modern day; honest and open love songs; songs that will make you laugh, but also make you think, with no holds barred honest lyrics and quick wit.

A fan of touring off the beaten track and visiting some of the country's overlooked towns, last year Beans on Toast went on his 'Small Town Celebrations Tour' and made a documentary, shining a light on these towns and the local music scenes. The film was premiered at Glastonbury Festival later that year. Watch it below.

Unfortunately our pubs are under some real stress now, be it a stupid and completely unrealistic rise in business rates or massive monopoly-style corporate buy-outs of large breweries, it's tough times for boozers indeed. This tour is proud to champion the #saveourpubs campaign.

Down the Pub dates

MAY 2017

04 Preston @ The Ferret
05 Bradford @ The New Bee Hive Inn
06 Bolton @ Alma Inn
07 Coventry @ The Phoenix
09 Melton Mowbray @ The Noel Arms
10 Wolverhampton @ Giffard Arms
11 Carmarthen @ The Friends Arms
17 Ipswich @ The Swan

Information and tickets for all shows can be found on our gigs page or at Beans on Toast's website.

“Protest songs peppered with optimism” The Guardian
"A politically relevant prolific wordsmith" CLASH
“Music brings people together in a way few things do, and live shows more so. But there’s something even more special about gigs with Beans on Toast.” Cultured Vultures

facebook.com/beansontoastmusic / Twitter @beanstoast / www.beansontoastmusic.com

Ben Marwood New Album 'Get Found' Out 7 April 2017 // Listen to 'Baby You're A Mess'

February 8, 2017

The long-awaited return of singer-songwriter Ben Marwood, one of Xtra Mile Recordings’ most treasured artists, means the release of his third album Get Found will be on 7th April 2017. You can preorder it from our online shop on CD and download, or via iTunes.

Listen to album track 'Baby You're A Mess' here on Souncloud or here on YouTube.

Coinciding with the release is Ben’s first tour in a couple of years, taking in some of the UK’s best independent venues. Support comes from label mate Non Canon and, on select dates, Helen Chambers. Full dates are:

Get Found has been a long time in the making. After the successes of debut album Outside There’s A Curse (2011) and the follow-up Back Down (2013) – which were accompanied by a sold out solo headline UK tour, a support run with Frank Turner across the US, and the very surreal spectacle of accompanying Mr Turner upon rolling green hills at his pre-show performance of the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony – Ben wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to or even want to play music again.

A very intense year-long illness stopped Ben in his tracks and even though 2014 to 2015 was a surprisingly productive year of writing new songs, life continued to intervene and this promising musician spent a year “embracing horizontal living”. It turns out that if you’re unhappy in a lot of aspects of your life your body isn’t keen on carrying that weight.

He ended up cancelling all his shows at the end of 2014's final Back Down tour except a slot at his home festival, 2000trees. “But I was still trying to date and work and arrange replacement shows for the ones I cancelled," says Ben. "But in the end I had to admit that broken humans can’t do what they feel like. Mind over matter only works if your mind wants to play ball.” Ben takes pride in showing up, but was forced home to recover.

A third album was anything but inevitable at that point. Yet here we are, in 2017, warmly welcoming another Ben Marwood record. After introducing us to little Ben Marwood in the cutest way possible on the opening song, it’s followed by ‘The Church of No Commandments’ which happily reminds us what we’ve been missing, with an energetic live thrust and gymnastic banjo plying the way for a phrase that soars "we’ll sing through every chorus as if we can stave off death". On the last song, Ben utters "take your lullabies and fuck off" before winding a song around the meaning of true friendship. That constant contrast is resplendent and displayed throughout.

The album doesn’t stray far from its roots but plays with them tenderly. Pedal steel aches on ‘Enraptured’, while ‘DNFTTTS’ is pure andante piano melody. ‘Nights’ chugs and spits before bellowing into the most uplifting-sounding chorus about death you’ve heard yet – and there are plenty to come. “I’m not dead, I’m not dying, I just can’t get up,” confesses Ben on ‘I’m Wide Awake It’s Boring’ as one of just two songs that directly reference his mental and physical state of that difficult year. But Ben’s still able to pull his best from just his familiar flowing finger-style and disarmingly affecting voice on ‘Bones’ and ‘Bury Me In the Pantheon’. Penultimate song ‘The Devil Makes Work For Jazz Hands’ dwells on death and immobility again (“the weight of the world is locked on your shoulders forever”) before sliding in a slick guitar solo and resolving into a plea of “you should know that you can’t fear all of the things you fear in the dark”.

Confessional and demanding of attention – it’s great to have Ben Marwood back.

Facebook / Twitter @benmarwoodmusic / www.benmarwood.com

SAM DUCKWORTH RELEASES SOLO ACOUSTIC ALBUM 'KINGDOMS' ON 27 JANUARY 2017 // WATCH VIDEO FOR '1986'

January 27, 2017

Sam Duckworth, the man behind Recreations and previously Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly., has released a solo album entitled Kingdoms. Recorded over the Christmas period, the digital album is available now from our shop.

You can also listen to it on Spotify and other streaming services. Watch the video for '1986' below.

Shaken and stirred by the times, Sam Duckworth is pouring songs forth at an alarming rate. Even after releasing two EPs of original material, Digital Ghettos and Beaches Ain’t Shit, a live EP (Live at LUX) and debut album Baby Boomers 2 as Recreations last year, Sam Duckworth continues to harness every drop of creativity and inspiration from current strife while mining for glimmers of positivity.

Written and recorded, on the most part, at the start of this year, Kingdoms sees Duckworth at his rawest and most urgent. He expresses getting back up, dusting himself off and continuing on more determined through strummed chords and light electric guitar lines, with the emphasis this time on Sam’s words. Largely anchored with percussive strumming, the subtle arpeggios, melodic solos and layers of colour still pop the songs perfectly. Upbeat in sound and measured in sentiment, Sam stays familiar in addressing the societal toll on community and self-confidence.

'All These Nights’ opens with the perfect summation of this, a chorus promising “all the nights that you spent working hard on regrets will not be erased but you can break the cycle if you’re willing to change”. Elsewhere, Sam revisits 2014 single '1986' for its first proper release. What once felt like a dystopian daydream, now feels all the more real: “It’s surprising we still fall, for spite on a wall.” His acoustic version of Baby Boomers 2 closing track ‘Lifestyle Concept Store’, a surprisingly moving alternative take on an album favourite. Appropriately, ‘1993’ brushes up against Britpop, giving a bright, optimistic feel to an indictment of certain elements of a younger generation who “blame immigration for the failure to coexist”.

The aroma of nostalgia isn’t ignored, but instead of wishing for bygone times like some lost mythical Albion, Sam seems both a little resigned to leaving it behind and, crucially, motivated to make the best of whatever comes next. It’s all the more convincing coming from one of the UK’s most prolific songwriters right now.

Tracklisting:
1.   All These Nights
2.   1986
3.   3rd Generation
4.   1993
5.   Multitasker
6.   Lifestyle Concept Store
7.   Wrong Way Round
8.   Mucking Around
9.   Stars

Sam Duckworth is playing some of these songs alongside his full 11-piece band performance of his debut album as Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager. Check out the remaining few dates here.

Watch a video of Sam explaining the reason for the album's existence below.