VOTE FOR SKINNY LISTER AND COUNTERFEIT. AS BEST LIVE ACT IN THE AIM INDEPENDENT MUSIC AWARDS 2017

Skinny Lister - photo by David Edwards

Xtra Mile acts need your help! Two of our bands – the razor-riffed Counterfeit. and rum-folk-whirligig Skinny Lister – are up for the Best Live Act award in the AIM Independent Music Awards 2017.

How can you help? Well, simply visit the voting form and mark your vote against your preferred act. VOTE FOR BEST LIVE ACT. 

They're up against some real heavy hitters (The National, The xx, The Flaming Lips, Jack Savoretti, Rick Astley (???)), and some incredibly impressive live acts (Stormzy, Dinosaur Jr., Mogwai, Tinariwen).

Countefeit.

But if you've seen what Skinny Lister or Counterfeit.  can do live, you know they deserve the top slot.

The second thing you can do is share this around and encourage other fans to vote. Don't forget you can tag the AIM Independent Music Awards on Facebook, and @aimawards on Twitter, with the hastag #AIMawards.

Whatever you do with your vote, AIM do really good things for bands like ours.

Voting closes on 27 June at 5pm with the five top nominees revealed on 2 August. Winners will be announced on 5 September.

Need a reminder of their live power? Here's some footage for you.

'GET BETTER – A FILM ABOUT FRANK TURNER' DVD PREORDER 30 JUNE 2017 // STREAMING ON 10 & 11 JUNE 2017 IN SELECT COUNTRIES

Get Better – A Film About Frank Turner will be streamed on 10 and 11 June in the USA, Canada, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Australia on demand at www.getbetterfilm.com.

Get Better is now also available to preorder on DVD, released 30 June 2017. Preorder through Xtra Mile here. The shop also has a bundle with the photo book by Matt Nasir of The Sleeping Souls, Photosynthesis: A Year in the Life of the Frank Turner Touring Family which you can preorder here.

Bonus features on the DVD include an acoustic set and Q&A between Frank, director Ben Morse, and journalist Hugo Rifkind from the film's premiere in London's Leicester Square in 2016.

Filmmaker Ben Morse spent a year trailing one of the most hard-working musicians currently operating and what emerges is a raw, insightful portrayal of an underground hero. A close friend of Turner, Morse originally intended to capture Turner and his band, The Sleeping Souls, in constant motion only to discover a man facing up to his demons, forced to pause touring for the first time in his career.

Get Better – A Film About Frank Turner includes never-before-seen footage from friends, family and fans across the world as well as extensive interviews with Turner and his band as they contemplate what drives a man to stay on the road and the effect that has on his life and those around him. Turner has been one of the breakthrough artists of the millennium, emerging from his punk-rock roots to become a rock icon to diehard fans all over the world. In 2015, everything came to a head as Turner slipped off the wagon and confronted the commercial pressures of mainstream success.

Frank will be supporting Jason Isbell on the road beginning September 1st.

Frank Turner’s full list of upcoming tour dates can be found here. 

SEPTEMBER 2017 (w/ Jason Isbell)

01 Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre              
02 Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre              
05 Moorhead, MN @ Bluestem Amphitheater              
07 Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheater             
08 Salt Lake City, UT @ Red Butte Garden          
09 Missoula, MT @ The Wilma Theatre         
11 Portland, OR @ Keller Auditorium           
12 Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre       
15 Jacksonville, OR @ Britt Pavilion      
16 Oakland, CA @ Fox Theatre       
17 Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre          
20 Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theatre   
23 Dallas, TX @ The Bomb Factory          
24 Oklahoma City, OK @ The Criterion     
26 Baton Rouge, LA @ Baton Rouge River Center           
27 Mobile, AL @ Saenger Theatre             
29 Charlotte, NC @ Ovens Auditorium          
30 Charlotte, NC @ Ovens Auditorium          

facebook.com/frankturnermusic / Twitter @frankturner / frank-turner.com/

GET CAPE. WEAR CAPE. FLY. RETURNS WITH NEW SINGLE 'OPTIMIST / NATIONAL HEALTH' ON 2 JUNE 2017

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. returns with a double A-side single inspired by the imminent UK election and the global political events that shocked 2016. ‘Optimist’ / ‘National Health’ will be released digitally on 2 June 2017 through Xtra Mile Recordings. Preorder the single via Xtra Mile or on iTunes.

It’s Get Cape’s first release in four years, although the man behind the moniker, Sam Duckworth, has never really been away. From then until now he has been recording and releasing music under his own name (most recently releasing the solo album Kingdoms earlier this year) and under the guise of Recreations with the fantastic socially-conscious album Baby Boomers 2 released April 2016 – both on Xtra Mile Recordings. 

And now, feeling the force of a ground-swelling movement for change, Get Cape is riding a wave of optimism. In his own words:

"'Don’t let the people make you think, that just because you’re young, you’re useless.' I wrote those words back in 2006, when I was young – now I’m a little older, I still believe them. A funny thing is happening, a new generation of thinkers and, crucially, doers is coming through. Ones who weren’t old enough to vote in 2015. Alongside them is a wide range of people compelled to vote for the first time. Regardless of the result of this election, there will be an unprecedented turn out of first-time voters.

"Being a political artist has been a strange journey, one that saw my optimism plummet due to a wide range of factors. The question 'where are the political bands' right now is redundant: they are everywhere. For ten years I wrestled with this very thing. Tagged as a political artist, I noticed the optimism morph into cynicism. Whilst musically I was improving, lyrically I was sounding down. Truth be told, I was down too. 

"It’s urban fact that once you hit your 30s, you stop caring about what people think of you and once again I am a cliché. Turns out I’m always going to be 'naive'. There is a belief in the air that positive change is possible, sadly as a result of international negative change, but there is at least hope. Where there is hope there is action, where there is action there is change. 

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. is an anti-fascist, hopeful project. I have always been anti-fascist, but recently I’ve began to hope again. It’s good to be back.”

facebook.com/getcapewearcapefly // Twitter @forgetcape //  www.getcapewearcapefly.com 

TRAPPER SCHOEPP NEW EP 'BAY BEACH AMUSEMENT PARK' // US TOUR DATES //LISTEN TO 'ON WISCONSIN' WRITTEN WITH BOB DYLAN'S LYRICS

Xtra Mile Recordings, in partnership with Kay Bank Recording, will release Trapper Schoepp's Bay Beach Amusement Park, a six-song concept EP centered around the 125-year-old attraction located in Green Bay, WI on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Produced by 18-year-old Minnesotan Eliot Skinner and recorded mostly live over a weekend at Pachyderm Studios, Bay Beach Amusement Park serves as Schoepp’s creative and wildly fun follow-up to Rangers & Valentines.
 
Perhaps the park’s most historic and notable attraction is the Zippin Pippin, a wooden rollercoaster and famously Elvis Presley’s favorite ride. "The King" rented Libertyland on 8 August 1977 to entertain a group of guests. Presley’s late night joyride was his last public appearance. He passed away eight days later.

40 years on, Schoepp celebrates the Pippin and other classic rides with these six songs that take the listener on six different adventures, each song named for its respective ride (“Zippin Pippin,” “Bumper Cars,” “The Scat”). This musical joyride is suitable entertainment for both adults and children. “Come mothers, daughters, fathers and sons/You’ll feel a lot better after you’re done,” Schoepp sings in the first single “Bumper Cars,” where pop culture rivalries such as Jerry Seinfeld and Newman and the Jedi and Sith collide on the ride.

“My first ride was a total thrill. I got right back in line wanting to set lyrics to the rhythm of the roller coaster,” Trapper says of his first time riding The Zippin Pippin. “It reminded me of the innocence of childhood and the great escape a ride can give you.” After writing his ode to the famous ride, Schoepp listened in on kids’ humorous conversations at the park. Some utterances, hastily transcribed as iPhone notes, appear verbatim in songs. The jazziest tune on the album, “The Scat,” takes lines from a boy exclaiming a nightmarish experience on the spinning gravitron ride: “I feel weird, I feel numb, I wish that this would end,” he sings.
 
The lyrics merge the exciting, romantic, and surreal aspects Schoepp attributes to the park. “Ferris Wheel” is a story song of two brothers whose wildest wish comes true. After screaming “we wish this never ends” in unison, the ferris wheel becomes an anthropomorphic, unstoppable ride – despite the best efforts of the FBI and the brothers’ meddling mother to shut it down. “Tilt-A-Whirl” is about a high school senior’s crush on the ride’s operator, who’s spending her last summer in Green Bay before college.
 
While the scope of the six songs is specific, Trapper notes that the entertainment value amusement parks offer is universal. “In a world of derivatives, Bay Beach is an original,” Trapper says. “It’s a happy place for me to return to in song and in real life.”

Additionally, Schoepp recently recorded 'On, Wisconsin', a hat-tip to both his beloved home state as well as his appreciation for Bob Dylan. Recorded for Milwaukee Day, 'On, Wisconsin' uses the lyrics taken from a 1961 set of unpublished verses from the legendary songwriter that also incorporates mentions of milk, cheese and the Dairy State, along with the state's slogan. Schoepp created a mash-up by writing the music around the lyrics that were scrawled onto a piece of notebook paper by a then 20-year-old Dylan. Listen to the track below.

Schoepp – who has already crisscrossed the country sharing stages with The Wallflowers, The Jayhawks and Old 97’s – will be back on the road throughout 2017 in support of Bay Beach Amusement Park, starting with a three-week run throughout the U.S. supporting Ha Ha Tonka. Dates below with more to be announced soon. 
 
04/22 - Milwaukee, WI @ Estabrook Park
05/18 - Kansas City, MO @ recordBar *
05/19 - St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway Music Venue *
05/20 - Chicago, IL The Empty Bottle *
05/31 - St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club *
06/01 - Green Bay, WI @ Lyric Room Live Music *
06/02 - Milwaukee, WI @ Anodyne Coffee Roasting Co. *
06/03 - Indianapolis, IN @ The White Rabbit Cabaret *
06/04 - Cleveland, OH @ The Beachland Ballroom and Tavern *
06/06 - Ferndale, MI @ The Loving Touch *
06/07 - Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern *
06/08 - Rochester, NY @ Abilene Bar and Lounge *
06/09 - Providence, RI @ Firehouse 13 *
06/10 - Philadelphia, PA @ MilkBoy *
06/11 - Brooklyn, NY @ Knitting Factory Brooklyn *
06/14 - Washington DC @ DC9 Nightclub *
06/15 - Columbus, OH @ Rumba Cafe *
06/16 - Newport, KY @ The Southgate House Revival
07/16 - Sheboygan, WI @ Midsummer Festival of the Arts
07/21 - Cedarburg, WI @ Summer Sounds
08/03 - Green Bay, WI @ Green Bay Botanical Garden
08/04 - Appleton, WI @ Mile of Music Festival
08/10 - Oshkosh, WI @ Waterfest
08/12 - Shell Lake, WI @ Potter’s Shed
08/31 - Wauwatosa, WI @ Tosa Tonight

* = supporting Ha Ha Tonka

THE RPMS LIVE DATES SPRING/SUMMER 2017 // NEW VIDEO FOR 'OH MY GOD' FROM 'AGENTS OF CHANGE' EP

The RPMs continue down that road as they announce a heap of spring and summer live dates to promote forthcoming EP Agents of Change, released on 2 June 2017. Preorder the EP here.

You can now watch the video for the single 'Oh My God' from Agents of Change.

The dates for all upcoming shows are on the poster below. Grab tickets from our gigs page.

Setting an experimental trajectory with a clutch of razor-edged new tracks, Brighton trio The RPMs are back with details of a forthcoming new EP.

The upcoming release reveals a band getting to grips with coming of age in an increasingly volatile world and lyrically sees the three-piece offering their take on the grip of social media in modern life. 

From the opening track ‘Oh My God’, Jack Valero articulates the frustration of an increasing stagnant youth culture: “kids all in the clubs still singing ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’, there’s just so much that they don’t know”. ‘Troubled Town’ is a song about honesty within love, or the lack of, complete with an fiery slide solo. ‘Things I Forgot To Do’ has an infectious energy and rhythm on the theme of running out of time. ‘Help Me Start the Day’ closes the EP, harboring dark undertones of depression and mental anguish that are masked within a lighthearted pop tune echoing the ‘slap a smile on it’ culture that is still uncomfortable with this condition.

Talking about the new release, Jack says:

“We’re very aware of how our lives as young people are so heavily under the spotlight of social media likeability these days. Social media has brought great freedoms to people, allowing them to connect and share with anyone in the world, but also brings great pressures to be forever feeding the machine. It’s crazy that in the age of information, people seem more uninformed than ever. We are the first generation predicted to be poorer than our parents and young people are turning to each other, social media and their favourite bands to help them understand the world they've inherited and we're trying to understand it too."

facebook.com/TheRPMsOfficial / Twitter @The_RPMs / www.the-rpms.co.uk

WILL VARLEY SPRING EUROPEAN TOUR SUPPORTING VALERIE JUNE // FESTIVAL DATES AND UK HEADLINE TOUR IN NOVEMBER 2017

Following a North American support tour with Frank Turner at the start of 2017 and a headline tour in Germany in March, rambling folk singer Will Varley sets off on the road once more, supporting rising star Valerie June. The tour takes in cities in Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, two shows in the UK and Will’s first shows in France.

Tickets can be purchased from http://www.willvarley.com/. Full dates are:

APRIL
20 Paris @ Alhambra
21 Tourcoing @ Grand Mix
22 Brighton @ Concorde 2
24 Exeter @ Phoenix
30 Rotterdam @ Bird

MAY
01 Utrecht @ Tivoli Vredenburg
02 Hamburg @ Knust
03 Brussels @ AB Flex
04 Cologne @ Gebaude 9

May also sees Will perform at the iconic London venue, the Roundhouse, as part of Frank Turner’s epic four-night residency titled Lost Evenings. He will open the main stage on 15 May with fellow label-mates Skinny Lister before Frank headlines the final night of the festival. After that it’s back to USA for a support tour with Lincoln Durham before a summer of festival appearances including 2000Trees, Greenfield and many more to be announced.

Then towards the end of the year Will embarks on his biggest headline tour to date, culminating with a show at London’s legendary Shepherds Bush Empire.

NOVEMBER

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

Tickets can be purchased from http://www.willvarley.com/

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.

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. In 2015 he signed a deal with independent music champions Xtra Mile Recordings, and momentum has been growing around the young troubadour ever since with the release of two studio albums ‘Postcards From Ursa Minor (October 2015) and ‘Kingsdown Sundown’ (November 2016) 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.