No year's time

Noah And The Whale have split.

The Guardian effectively sums up their career as having started on the edges, they drove into the middle of the road and disappeared.

Glastonbury 2011: View from the sofa - Various bands

This year's BBC coverage from Glastonbury seems a little flat this year - the first slew of bands shown on BBC Three seemed to floating away, over the heads of the audience.

Two Door Cinema Club plugged away bravely but ineffectively, like a Public School headmaster trying to stop a fight in a borstal; Fleet Foxes could have been trapped in the old Whistle Test studio for all the sense of a live audience there was. Biffy Clyro at least worked up a bit of a sweat and a bit of audience reaction, but even then it was clear you'd have been much better off being there, and everyone would have been better off in a smaller venue with a back wall.

The stage that's working best on TV is the Introducing stage, mainly thanks to the cameras being right up the band's noses. Noah And The Whale have never looked more like two 11th Doctor cosplayers flanked by a pair of Jarvis Cockers, but they sounded great.

The BBC coverage is a mixed bag. First - at least so far - there's very little of the tedious films of "this is Jocasta's first Glastonbury, we gave her a camera" variety. That's a good thing.

Secondly, 6Music is doing brilliant work - although did I really hear it right that they're burning performances to CD and running them across the to the makeshift studio in order to play them out on air? Can that really be the case? Let's hope the CD burner keeps going, or else by the end of the weekend Shaun Keavney's going to have to stand in the front row with a Dictaphone in his outstretched arm.

The trouble with the swathes of 6Music coverage is that most of the presenters who you'd like to see on TV are busy or knackered - it was well past midnight before I spotted Lauren Laverne and Mark Radcliffe on-screen, for example. Which means BBC Three is being anchored by Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates.

Now, it's possible to argue into the face of the Daily Mail that the number of BBC staff sent to Glastonbury is justified by it being one of the UK's premier cultural events. It's a bit harder to make that case when Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates are given the job of anchoring the thing.

The studio - certainly for BBC Three - feels a bit distant from events, too. We've come a long way from the time when, by law, any coverage of Glastonbury had to be anchored from a studio containing hay bales, but it might have been nice if there'd been at least some sense of connection with the events being anchored.

Still, for all these quibbles, it's lovely to able to dip in and out of the festival. Thank you, BBC.

Embed and breakfast man: Noah & The Whale

Noah And The Whale take the campaign to save 6Music to Vimeo with a cover of Last DJ:

Last Dj by Tom Petty cover for BBC6 from charlie fink on Vimeo.

[Thanks to Jon M for the link]

Arrests in Noah And Whale case theft case

Apparently, a lot of the kit is still missing, but Greater Manchester Police have made arrests following the theft of Noah And The Whale's stuff.

Nicked from Noah

This is what happens when you leave it to the weekend to catch up with the Marc Riley programmes (cracking this week, by the way - Joan As Policewoman, Strike The Colours, First Aid Kit and Ambulances in session): I'd fallen down on the job by missing the news that Noah And The Whale had everything stolen in Manchester in the small hours of Wednesday morning:

We’re sad to report that last night Noah and the Whale had all of their instruments and tour equipment stolen from Trinity Way NCP car park in Manchester. At some point between midnight and 11am this morning, the band’s trailer was taken containing all the equipment listed below, most of which is of great sentimental value to the band.
Many of the instruments were packed in flight cases marked NOAH in 6” high stencil lettering, or gold marker pen lettering NOAH AND THE WHALE or NATW. If you were in the Manchester area and saw anything suspicious, or if you’ve come across any of the equipment listed, please contact the police immediately. You can also contact Coalition management on 020 8743 1000 or zac@coalitiongroup.co.uk

STOLEN EQUIPMENT

Gibson Les Paul Gold Top Deluxe
Fender telecaster – sunburst with black scratch plate

The above are both LEFT HANDED

Gibson Goldtone GA-30 RVS Amp
Voodoo labs power supply x3
Ernie ball volume pedal x2
Boss TU2 tuner x 7
Boss EQ pedal
Homebrew Electronics Powerscreamer
Ibanez TS-9 Tubescreamer
Line6 delay
Ebow x2
Electro Harmonix Holy Grail
Marshall Compressor pedal
Behringer acoustic DI box
Fender 66 P-bass
Vox F-hole 60’s sunburst bass
Ampeg B-15
Ashdown 2x10 cab
Z Vex wooly mammoth pedal
Little big muff
Mesa Boogie DC3 amp
Marshall 1 x 12 guitar cab
Line6 Digital delay pedal
MXR boost
Ibanez tube screamer
Fender 1965 Deluxe reverb
Ibanez AD9 Analogue delay
Keeley compressor pedal
Fender Telecaster 1963
Fender Jaguar 1963
Electro harmonix POG
Electro harmonix Holy Grail
ZVEX Distortron
Digitech loop pedal
Ludwig silver/white oyster finish drum kit consisting of:
22” kick drum (1966)
Rack Tom 13”(1966)
Floor Tom 16” (1970)
Zildjian 21” ride
14” Hi Hats
13” Hi Hats
16” Crash
17” Crash
Ludwig black beauty snare 14x5
Brady snare 14x6
Ludwig snare 14x5
2 snare stands
3 DW kick pedals, one with tamborine attachment
2 tamborines, cowbell
2 crash stands
1 ride stand
10 pairs wooden 5a sticks
1 pair brushes
2 pair hot rod brushes
2 pair felt beaters
Roland 88 note stage piano and x-frame stand

Peli-case toolbox
Contents:
Peterson strobo-flip
Boss tu2 tuner
Screwdrivers
Gas soldering kit
Various pliers /cutters
Nut-files/ various files
Music-stand lamp
Guitar Polish/cleaners/switch cleaners

Flightcases:
These are all marked NOAH in 6” high stencil lettering, some also have gold marker pen lettering NOAH AND THE WHALE or NATW
Fender Jag case
Fender Tele case x 2
Gibson gold top l/h case
Fender precision bass case
Vox F-hole bass case
Ampeg B-15 bass cab case
Ashdown 4x10 bass cab case
Fender Twin amp case
Fender Deluxe amp case
Gibson goldtone GA30 amp case
4 x Pedal board cases
Large drum traps Hardcase
Small tom case
Floor tom case
Snare case x 3
Kick drum case
Small traps case x 2
Kick pedal case
Guitar rack case x2

Tool box with various screw drivers etc.

Having all your stuff stolen is the extreme of being shat on (even if Feargal Sharkey would argue it's on a par with having someone download a couple of your songs without a licence) so let's hope that someone will be able to help out.

Downloadable: Noah And The Whale

It's not just that Noah And The Whale have released the lead track off The First Day Of Spring as a download, but it comes with a manifesto, too:

In any industry rooted in supply and demand, it is a rare privilege to give something away. We are very excited to be able to release something we believe in passionately, recorded how we wanted, and with absolutely no restrictions of access.

Whale meat later: Noah cancels US plans

Noah and The Whale have put off their US tour plans:

Some of the most dedicated, blog-aware North American friends of Noah and the Whale have correctly identified North American tour dates circulating on the internet.

It is with no little remorse and disappointment that we are compelled to cancel these dates. These words are being typed in the studio as we make progress on the next Noah and the Whale album. Between commitments in hereto-neglected Europe, we have made the sad but important decision to take time to develop these recordings over the winter months.

Despite this unavoidable necessity we would like to apologise to all the wonderful friends we made on our most recent American adventure, to anyone who has bought tickets or was preparing to do so.

The whole band enjoys an ongoing love affair with the US. The autumn tour was one of the most intense and heartening experiences of our lives and we were bristling with seasonal anticipation at the prospect of old faces and venues, not to mention new American audiences and experiences too. But there is simply not enough time in the world and we are sure that this next record will justify this difficult call.

With new songs to disseminate and even more America-famished, we will cross the pond to tour across the continent from March 2009. This is a promise, a published, globally-viewable promise.

Once again we want to express our most sincere gratitude for everyone who has seen us play, said they would see us play, or said two good words about the band. Noah and the Whale will be back and we will be back many times.

That's the second band this week electing to stay in the studio instead of going out to tour.

Whale away

Noah and the Whale are off to the United States, for what they point out, politely but firmly, isn't their first tour of the America:

September 16- Union Pool- Brooklyn, NY
September 18- Sidewalk Cafe- New York, NY
September 19- Virgin Union Square (12:30 PM)- New York, NY**
September 19- Mercury Lounge- New York, NY
September 20- TOAD- Boston, MA**
September 22- The Saints- Montreal**
September 23- Horseshoe Tavern- Toronto, ONT**
September 25- Av-Aerie (ALL AGES)- Chicago, IL
September 26- Reckless Records (6 PM)- Chicago, IL**
September 26- Empty Bottle- Chicago, IL
September 29- Chop Suey- Seattle, WA**
September 30- Doug Fir Lounge- Portland, OR**
October 02- Amoeba Music (6PM)- San Francisco, CA**
October 02- Pop Scene @ 330 Ritch- San Francisco, CA
October 04- Detour Festival- Los Angeles, CA
October 06- Spaceland- Los Angeles, CA**

Those double asterisks? They're free shows, they are.

Whale away

Noah And The Whale - who apparently went down a storm at the Cambridge Folk Festival - are going to brighten stages all round the nation. Like, on a tour:

October
20th, Oxford- Academy
21st, York -Duchess
22nd, Leeds -Cockpit
24th, Dundee -Fat Sam's
25th, Glasgow- Stereo
27th, Manchester -Academy 3
28th, Dublin -Whelans
29th, Belfast- Limelight
31st, Liverpool –Bumper
November
1st Nottingham - Rescue Rooms
2nd, Exeter - Phoenix
3rd, Portsmouth - Wedgewood Rooms
4th, Norwich - Waterfront
6th, London - Koko
7th, Brighton - Concorde 2
8th, Coventry - Kasbah
9th, Bristol - Thekla
10th, Cambridge- Junction
11th, Birmingham - Glee Club
12th, Sheffield - Leadmill
13th, Bournemouth - Old Fire Station

Glastonbury 2008: Noah and the Whale

As the crowds arrive home, so more interesting stuff is appearing on YouTube. This is Noah and the Whale doing Five Year's Time:



[Part of Glastonbury 2008 video]