Life Stream is finally out today! Treat yourself here:
http://timandsam.bigcartel.com
Or if downloading is your bag, you can now get it on all the usual download sites and through our Bandcamp:
http://timandsamband.bandcamp.com/
The LP is also available in the following independent shops across the length and breadth of the country:
Manchester - Piccadilly
London - Rough Trade
Cardiff - Spillers
Brighton - Resident
Edinburgh - Avalanche
Leeds - Jumbo
Kingston - Banquet Records
Preston - Action Records
Life Stream tour dates:
We had our first show playing new tracks from the album at Hey! Manchester's event at Sounds From The Other City. So far, we've received some fantastic feedback, so we are extremely excited about going on tour with a new repertoire. Please see below for tour dates:
Sun 09 May - SALFORD ALBUM LAUNCH PARTY, The Kings Head
Wed 12 May - Bristol, Mother’s Ruin
Thu 13 May - London, Kings Cross Social Club (FREE ENTRY)
Fri 14 May - The Great Escape, Latest Music Bar (afternoon) (FREE ENTRY)
Sat 15 May - Northampton, The Labour Club
Wed 19 May - Caernarfon, Gwynedd, Morgan Lloyd
Thu 20 May - Aberdeen, The Tunnels
Fri 21 May - Berwick,The Barrels Alehouse
Sun 23 May - Nottingham, Spanky Van Dykes
Tue 25 May - Southampton, Hamptons
Wed 26 May - Bath, Moles
Thu 27 May - Winchester, The Railway
Fri 28 May - York, Stereo
Sat 29 May - Anglesey, The Trip Festival
Media Coverage:
We are benefiting from a fair amount of coverage across all media platforms at the moment, we would like to thank everyone that's supported the album to date across the web, press & radio. It's amazing that we've had such positive feedback and it's hugely uplifting.
Marc Riley has asked us in for a radio session on May 10th, so please tune in!
Here's what people have been saying so far:
WORD Magazine: "A terrific LP full of incidental music for soothing the savage breast and making you look forward to summer. If you don't like this record, well, get over yourself."
Adam Walton, BBC Wales Music Blog: "Breathtaking in a most unshowy way. Life Stream is as accomplished, thoughtful and lovingly-crafted as any album will hear this year. Essential listening."
Bethan Elfyn: "Absolute soaring loveliness. A highly anticipated album."
Gideon Coe, 6Music: "Very, very, very ,very good. A splendid piece of work."
Marc Riley. 6Music: Absolutely beautiful."
AbsolutePunk: "Easily one of the best and most beautiful instrumental folk-rock albums that you will probably come across - it's simply lovely. Whether you check it out because of their name, or because you like the genre, this is an album that you should not miss out on."
That's all for now, but we hope to see you at a show at some point in May!
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Friday, 2 April 2010
B-Side Recording
Hello,
Over the past few weeks we've been preparing the release of our debut album Life Stream. This includes things like sorting out press, radio pluggers, tours, music videos and launch parties. In amongst all of that, we've been recording a b-side to go with the first single Finders Keepers, to be released June 14th.
We've been recording it in our drummer Jamie's lovely new analogue studio:
First we had to spend a bit of time working on a guide track because the song has the odd extra bar and speeds up. After we'd done that Jamie working his magic on the drums:
Then Ad came in to do bass:
The following day it was time for me to do my shredding:
Then I did some vocals:
Sadly we forgot to take photos of the other exciting things like Harmonium, Ukulele, Electric Guitar, Glockenspiel and Electric Piano. I think we got too carried away with experimental mic techniques. Sorry.
The following day Becca came up to do tinkle the ivories:
And add some vocals:
And we're done! Tracklaying is all finished, now we just have to mix and master it. Next up, Jamie is remixing Finders Keepers and we're heading back into the studio where we recording Life Stream to make a radio edit. We're also rehearsing lots ahead of our tour in May.
Thanks for reading. And don't forget you can pre-order the album here:
www.timandsam.bigcartel.com
Tim and Sam x
Over the past few weeks we've been preparing the release of our debut album Life Stream. This includes things like sorting out press, radio pluggers, tours, music videos and launch parties. In amongst all of that, we've been recording a b-side to go with the first single Finders Keepers, to be released June 14th.
We've been recording it in our drummer Jamie's lovely new analogue studio:
First we had to spend a bit of time working on a guide track because the song has the odd extra bar and speeds up. After we'd done that Jamie working his magic on the drums:
Then Ad came in to do bass:
The following day it was time for me to do my shredding:
Then I did some vocals:
Sadly we forgot to take photos of the other exciting things like Harmonium, Ukulele, Electric Guitar, Glockenspiel and Electric Piano. I think we got too carried away with experimental mic techniques. Sorry.
The following day Becca came up to do tinkle the ivories:
And add some vocals:
And we're done! Tracklaying is all finished, now we just have to mix and master it. Next up, Jamie is remixing Finders Keepers and we're heading back into the studio where we recording Life Stream to make a radio edit. We're also rehearsing lots ahead of our tour in May.
Thanks for reading. And don't forget you can pre-order the album here:
www.timandsam.bigcartel.com
Tim and Sam x
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Life Stream Pre=Order Now!
Hello,
You can now pre-order our debut album! Please visit our brand new website for more details:
www.timandsam.com
Tim and Sam x
You can now pre-order our debut album! Please visit our brand new website for more details:
www.timandsam.com
Tim and Sam x
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Summer Solstice news
Hello,
We thought it'd be nice to give you an update on our new single Summer Solstice. First of all, we'd like to say thank you to everyone who came to our launch party at the Deaf Institute. We had a great night and I hope you did too! We recorded our set so hopefully we'll be able to share it with you soon.
We'd also like to thank those of you who came to our Summer Solstice tour. It was our first time on the road with our new drummer Jamie. We had lots of fun. Proof:
Highlights of the tour included a lovely promoters, friends and endless games of cards. We've still got some more dates to come over July:
3rd - The White Rooms, SUNDERLAND
5th - Head of Steam, NEWCASTLE
11th - Feelgood Festival, ROCHDALE
12th - Puzzle Hall, HALIFAX
14th - Old Queens Head, LONDON
16th - Telford's Warehouse, CHESTER
29th - Harley, SHEFFIELD
We'll have copies of the vinyl with us, as well as the Slippers EPs and t-shirts. Hope to see some of you there!
We also thought you might like to read some lovely reviews we've had of the single. Here are some brief snippets:
BOOMKAT: "Instrumental post-folk loveliness. After the building acoustic pseudo-epic 'Summer Solstice' (replete with banjos and glockenspiels) the B-side opens with a waltzing, breezy affair titled 'Rolling Hills', but the final track on this three-song EP is a lo-fi instrumental cover of Elbow's 'One Day Like This', aptly rounding off an incredibly optimistic, sunshine dappled single."
BEARDED MUSIC: "With the sun finally coming out, this single has arrived at exactly the right time. ‘Summer Solstice’ is a delight: a perfect summer tune for lazing in the sun to."
ADDICT MUSIC: "I’ve set myself up to loathe them absolutely, but then half way through ‘Summer Solstice’ my head is wobbling jauntily and my sceptical streak is wavering uncertainly. There’s a lush clover of strings and the tug of a gentle horn section. It’s all a bit bloody nice. There are delicate string arrangements. The whole thing reeks of village fêtes and cream scones."
FUGITIVE MOTEL: "As a hot summer meanders along, this record will be sure to stay in the stereo. Euphoric and utterly gorgeous."
LOSING TODAY: "A sumptuous tide of good to be alive uplifting optimism. May well have a fair few of you weeping at this joyous spectacle."
NORMAN RECORDS: "'Summer Solstice' is a celebration of the best time of year....you guessed it yo, it's SUMMER!! The A-side is the sound of summer coming towards you, chasing you through the freshly mowed meadows with its lilting string arrangement, urgent drums and pulsing grand piano. It's a big, lush spring time gesture to pre-empt the inevitable excitement of summertime. B-side's 'Rolling Hills' continues the seasonal theme with lightly orchestrated brit-folk of the like you'll be chuffed with if you are a fan of the Static Caravan back catalogue, but the real treat is a cover of 'One day like this' that sees the band mutate Elbow's classic single into a instrumental Celtic-folk jam. Smooth move."
In other news, I did an interview for the Moon and Back Music blog after our gig at Birmingham Academy 3. To read it, go here:
http://moonandbackmusic.com/archives/272/comment-page-1#comment-20
In between our gigs we're busy in the studio readying some new songs. I'm also writing a guest feature for the folks over at This is Fake DIY. I'll keep you posted about when that goes up.
Oh and finally, if you haven't ordered the single yet you can do so here:
www.timdandsam.bigcartel.com
Thanks!
Tim and Sam x
We thought it'd be nice to give you an update on our new single Summer Solstice. First of all, we'd like to say thank you to everyone who came to our launch party at the Deaf Institute. We had a great night and I hope you did too! We recorded our set so hopefully we'll be able to share it with you soon.
We'd also like to thank those of you who came to our Summer Solstice tour. It was our first time on the road with our new drummer Jamie. We had lots of fun. Proof:
Highlights of the tour included a lovely promoters, friends and endless games of cards. We've still got some more dates to come over July:
3rd - The White Rooms, SUNDERLAND
5th - Head of Steam, NEWCASTLE
11th - Feelgood Festival, ROCHDALE
12th - Puzzle Hall, HALIFAX
14th - Old Queens Head, LONDON
16th - Telford's Warehouse, CHESTER
29th - Harley, SHEFFIELD
We'll have copies of the vinyl with us, as well as the Slippers EPs and t-shirts. Hope to see some of you there!
We also thought you might like to read some lovely reviews we've had of the single. Here are some brief snippets:
BOOMKAT: "Instrumental post-folk loveliness. After the building acoustic pseudo-epic 'Summer Solstice' (replete with banjos and glockenspiels) the B-side opens with a waltzing, breezy affair titled 'Rolling Hills', but the final track on this three-song EP is a lo-fi instrumental cover of Elbow's 'One Day Like This', aptly rounding off an incredibly optimistic, sunshine dappled single."
BEARDED MUSIC: "With the sun finally coming out, this single has arrived at exactly the right time. ‘Summer Solstice’ is a delight: a perfect summer tune for lazing in the sun to."
ADDICT MUSIC: "I’ve set myself up to loathe them absolutely, but then half way through ‘Summer Solstice’ my head is wobbling jauntily and my sceptical streak is wavering uncertainly. There’s a lush clover of strings and the tug of a gentle horn section. It’s all a bit bloody nice. There are delicate string arrangements. The whole thing reeks of village fêtes and cream scones."
FUGITIVE MOTEL: "As a hot summer meanders along, this record will be sure to stay in the stereo. Euphoric and utterly gorgeous."
LOSING TODAY: "A sumptuous tide of good to be alive uplifting optimism. May well have a fair few of you weeping at this joyous spectacle."
NORMAN RECORDS: "'Summer Solstice' is a celebration of the best time of year....you guessed it yo, it's SUMMER!! The A-side is the sound of summer coming towards you, chasing you through the freshly mowed meadows with its lilting string arrangement, urgent drums and pulsing grand piano. It's a big, lush spring time gesture to pre-empt the inevitable excitement of summertime. B-side's 'Rolling Hills' continues the seasonal theme with lightly orchestrated brit-folk of the like you'll be chuffed with if you are a fan of the Static Caravan back catalogue, but the real treat is a cover of 'One day like this' that sees the band mutate Elbow's classic single into a instrumental Celtic-folk jam. Smooth move."
In other news, I did an interview for the Moon and Back Music blog after our gig at Birmingham Academy 3. To read it, go here:
http://moonandbackmusic.com/archives/272/comment-page-1#comment-20
In between our gigs we're busy in the studio readying some new songs. I'm also writing a guest feature for the folks over at This is Fake DIY. I'll keep you posted about when that goes up.
Oh and finally, if you haven't ordered the single yet you can do so here:
www.timdandsam.bigcartel.com
Thanks!
Tim and Sam x
Sunday, 24 May 2009
Earlier this week I got on the train to Newport in South Wales to set about hand-making the packaging for our next single, Summer Solstice. To make our task slightly easier, we decided to get the back covers done at the printers. They were finished last week, so I took them with me to finish them off. Here's a little bit more info:
The printing was done in two colours, which meant we had to do two screens. We started off by mixing the colour for the grass:
Then we set about making the screens. First of all we had to clean them:
And then apply some special stuff to stop the paint from going where it shouldn't. Sorry for my lack of technical know-how.
Then we put the canvas on a special UV lighting machine, with the stencil on top. This dries the paint everywhere except where the stencil blocks the UV light.
Then we washed off the paint to reveal the stencil:
Then we put the canvas onto the printing press and applied the paint:
Then we used a special scraper (forgotten their proper name)to pull the paint over the screen. The paint seeps through the gaps.
And creates this:
Then we set about repeating this process. We had to do it 520 times, just in case we messed up a few by pressing too hard and smudging the paint or something. Good job, because it took us a while to get into the swing of things.
Some time later:
We averaged about 100 sheets an hour, so as you can imagine it was a pretty
long process. Once we'd got all of it done we set about adding the second colour to complete the image:
We made the screen again and spent a long time lining up the print to make sure it lined up correctly. Then it was back to the printing:
Two days and 1040 prints later...
Woo! After we all packed up I got back on the train and went home to North Wales. The following day I set about numbering and signing all of the copies:
They're all done now, and have been sent back to the label to be packaged up with the vinyl in a plastic sleeve. We're really pleased with how they've turned out, so I hope you like it when it's all done!
Thank you to Pete for all of his help, we couldn't have done it without him and his contacts to help us to get access to the equipment.
Tim and Sam x
The printing was done in two colours, which meant we had to do two screens. We started off by mixing the colour for the grass:
Then we set about making the screens. First of all we had to clean them:
And then apply some special stuff to stop the paint from going where it shouldn't. Sorry for my lack of technical know-how.
Then we put the canvas on a special UV lighting machine, with the stencil on top. This dries the paint everywhere except where the stencil blocks the UV light.
Then we washed off the paint to reveal the stencil:
Then we put the canvas onto the printing press and applied the paint:
Then we used a special scraper (forgotten their proper name)to pull the paint over the screen. The paint seeps through the gaps.
And creates this:
Then we set about repeating this process. We had to do it 520 times, just in case we messed up a few by pressing too hard and smudging the paint or something. Good job, because it took us a while to get into the swing of things.
Some time later:
We averaged about 100 sheets an hour, so as you can imagine it was a pretty
long process. Once we'd got all of it done we set about adding the second colour to complete the image:
We made the screen again and spent a long time lining up the print to make sure it lined up correctly. Then it was back to the printing:
Two days and 1040 prints later...
Woo! After we all packed up I got back on the train and went home to North Wales. The following day I set about numbering and signing all of the copies:
They're all done now, and have been sent back to the label to be packaged up with the vinyl in a plastic sleeve. We're really pleased with how they've turned out, so I hope you like it when it's all done!
Thank you to Pete for all of his help, we couldn't have done it without him and his contacts to help us to get access to the equipment.
Tim and Sam x
Monday, 20 April 2009
Put Your Slippers On Tour Blog
Hello,
We're back from our first ever headline tour!
Our 2000 mile journey started with a trip to Bush Hall in London. The venue was amazing:
They also had the biggest kettle in the world:
We then drove to Luton to stay at a friend's house for the night. The next day we went to Leeds to play at Royal Park Cellars.
After the show we went to stay at the Rosie Taylor Project's house. The following morning I went to a park for a walk and met a guy called G-Dawg with a gold tooth. I was a bit scared. Once I got back from my walk we got back on the M1 and drove up to Edinburgh to play at Cabaret Voltaire.
We ended up playing at one of their club nights, going on stage at 12. We were rather apprehensive about it, but it turned out to be really great. People were dancing to our music! Not something we thought we'd ever see...
Long story, but we ended up having to drive back to North Wales after we played. I drove through the night, and we got back at 6.30 in the morning. Hardcore! We then had a couple of days in the studio before heading down to Bristol to play at Start the Bus.
Two people were dancing at the front again! Maybe we've gone dancier since our last tour...
The following day we drove back to London to record an XFM session for John Kennedy. We were wrongly directed down to the basement to park and ended up getting stuck!
We were locked in, but thankfully I had the number for XFM in my phone so I could get someone to move the car that was blocking the exit. After the kerfuffle we got to work:
Tea!
We were done by around 5, so we had the rest of the evening to have fun in Luton at our friend's house. We played Frustration, Top Trumps and cards.
The next day we went to another park in Luton. It was fun.
Then we decided to have a business meeting:
After the fun we headed back down to London to play at a small intimate venue called Monkey Chews.
We then went to stay with Inigo, who is the drummer in Klaus Says Buy the Record. He has a lovely house and studio near Tunbridge Wells. He has sheep!
And a parrot! He told me he loved me. Aww.
Next up was a show in Brighton at Talking Heads. A definite highlight of the the tour.
We spent another night in Tunbridge before going to Southampton to play at Talking Heads.
After soundcheck we met up with our good friend Luke Leighfield to go for dinner. It was Ad's birthday so we decided to go for a proper meal. By complete chance we ended up going to place where you could eat for free if it was your birthday! A full three courses, too.
We stayed over at Luke's, and then made our way home for a couple of days. Becca and I went over to Spain to visit my brother during our time off. It was amazing I did my best to promote T&S while I was there...
When I got back we had our last two gigs of the tour. The first one was back down in London to play a Local night at The King's Head in Crouch End. We played with Dan Michaelson and the Coastguards, who are a super group made up of members of Absentee, Ed Harcourt, Magic Numbers, Rumblestrips and Fields. It was ace. Really busy, too.
After yet another night sleeping in Luton we made our way up to Birmigham to play at St Paul's. It was the launch night for the new EP by Mr Bones and the Dreamers, and we played at this lovely venue:
We like churches. It was another busy one, and proved to be a nice ending to our tour.
Thank you to everyone who came to see us, we had a great time. Hopefully we'll be out on tour again at the end of June, so hopefully we'll see you again then!
In other news, yesterday I finished off a remix for The Answering Machine's next single Obviously Cold. Hopefully I'll be able to show it to you soon.
Tim and Sam x
We're back from our first ever headline tour!
Our 2000 mile journey started with a trip to Bush Hall in London. The venue was amazing:
They also had the biggest kettle in the world:
We then drove to Luton to stay at a friend's house for the night. The next day we went to Leeds to play at Royal Park Cellars.
After the show we went to stay at the Rosie Taylor Project's house. The following morning I went to a park for a walk and met a guy called G-Dawg with a gold tooth. I was a bit scared. Once I got back from my walk we got back on the M1 and drove up to Edinburgh to play at Cabaret Voltaire.
We ended up playing at one of their club nights, going on stage at 12. We were rather apprehensive about it, but it turned out to be really great. People were dancing to our music! Not something we thought we'd ever see...
Long story, but we ended up having to drive back to North Wales after we played. I drove through the night, and we got back at 6.30 in the morning. Hardcore! We then had a couple of days in the studio before heading down to Bristol to play at Start the Bus.
Two people were dancing at the front again! Maybe we've gone dancier since our last tour...
The following day we drove back to London to record an XFM session for John Kennedy. We were wrongly directed down to the basement to park and ended up getting stuck!
We were locked in, but thankfully I had the number for XFM in my phone so I could get someone to move the car that was blocking the exit. After the kerfuffle we got to work:
Tea!
We were done by around 5, so we had the rest of the evening to have fun in Luton at our friend's house. We played Frustration, Top Trumps and cards.
The next day we went to another park in Luton. It was fun.
Then we decided to have a business meeting:
After the fun we headed back down to London to play at a small intimate venue called Monkey Chews.
We then went to stay with Inigo, who is the drummer in Klaus Says Buy the Record. He has a lovely house and studio near Tunbridge Wells. He has sheep!
And a parrot! He told me he loved me. Aww.
Next up was a show in Brighton at Talking Heads. A definite highlight of the the tour.
We spent another night in Tunbridge before going to Southampton to play at Talking Heads.
After soundcheck we met up with our good friend Luke Leighfield to go for dinner. It was Ad's birthday so we decided to go for a proper meal. By complete chance we ended up going to place where you could eat for free if it was your birthday! A full three courses, too.
We stayed over at Luke's, and then made our way home for a couple of days. Becca and I went over to Spain to visit my brother during our time off. It was amazing I did my best to promote T&S while I was there...
When I got back we had our last two gigs of the tour. The first one was back down in London to play a Local night at The King's Head in Crouch End. We played with Dan Michaelson and the Coastguards, who are a super group made up of members of Absentee, Ed Harcourt, Magic Numbers, Rumblestrips and Fields. It was ace. Really busy, too.
After yet another night sleeping in Luton we made our way up to Birmigham to play at St Paul's. It was the launch night for the new EP by Mr Bones and the Dreamers, and we played at this lovely venue:
We like churches. It was another busy one, and proved to be a nice ending to our tour.
Thank you to everyone who came to see us, we had a great time. Hopefully we'll be out on tour again at the end of June, so hopefully we'll see you again then!
In other news, yesterday I finished off a remix for The Answering Machine's next single Obviously Cold. Hopefully I'll be able to show it to you soon.
Tim and Sam x
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