Win a vinyl test pressing of Graham Gouldman’s new album Modesty Forbids. These test pressings are extremely rare, with only 5 ever made. We have 2 to give away to lucky winners! Graham will sign them to you personally and we will post to anywhere in the world.
Sign up here for a chance to be picked – at random – on 1st June 2020.
We are truly devastated to learn of the death of Adam Schlesinger. We’ve been lost for words. Others have expressed this tremendous loss in more eloquent ways than we are able. It was a pleasure and an honour to have known him and to have played a small part in bringing his music to the world. Our heartfelt sympathies go out to his family, bandmates and friends.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/apr/02/fountains-of-wayne-adam-schlesinger-coronavirus
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/adam-schlesinger-remembering-979279/
https://pitchfork.com/news/fountains-of-waynes-adam-schlesinger-dead-at-52-from-covid-19/
https://variety.com/2020/music/news/adam-schlesinger-remembered-sam-hollander-1234569576/
(photo: Ebet Roberts)
Tonight at 11pm GMT (7pm EST): it’s a TMBG WATCH PARTY! The band will be streaming a performance of a Brooklyn show from October 2015, and as it streams you can chat in real-time with other TMBGers. Go to: https://found.ee/TMBG102515
10cc’s Graham Gouldman today releases his new single ‘Standing Next To Me’, which features a very special guest appearance by Ringo Starr.
The song was inspired by Graham’s experience of being asked to join and tour with Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band for their 2018 tours of North America and Europe.
Listen now: Spotify | Apple | Deezer
Graham said, “I would stand next to Ringo front of stage when he wasn’t playing the drums. It was a surreal and wonderful experience to see him ‘Standing Next To Me’. It was also brilliant to be on the road with the other members of the All Starr Band, namely Steve Lukather, Colin Hay, Gregg Rolie, Gregg Bissonette, and Warren Ham. A dream come true.”
Ringo added, “It was such a thrill for me to have Graham in my All Starr Band in 2018, with his great songs and great bass playing and his very British personality! And look what happens – he goes home and writes a great song and then asks me to play drums on it! It was my honour because the track is fab and I want to congratulate him on such a good album too.”
‘Standing Next To Me’ is released a week before Graham’s new album ‘Modesty Forbids’ – the fifth solo album of Graham’s career, available for pre-order here.
Phil Thornalley features in the latest issue of TapeOp magazine. A fascinating read that covers his work with Bryan Adams, Thompson Twins, The Cure, Prefab Sprout, The Psychedelic Furs, The Jam, XTC, Duran Duran, Paul McCartney and, of course, Astral Drive.
Read it in full here: tapeop.com/interviews/135/phil-thornalley/
The first single from Graham Gouldman’s new album, Modesty Forbids, is out now. “All Around The World” is one of eleven tracks from the album that’s now available for pre-order on LP, CD and digital with instant grat download of the single.
With Graham’s 10cc tours enjoying ever-increasing success around the world in recent years, in 2018 he was invited by former Beatles’ drummer Ringo Starr to join his All Starr Band for tours of Europe and the USA, during which the band played three 10cc songs, elevating Graham’s profile yet further.
That relationship continues, with Ringo making a very special guest appearance on Modesty Forbids. Graham said, “Playing with Ringo Starr and The All Starr Band was absolutely brilliant, and having Ringo play drums on one of my new album’s songs was the icing on the cake. In it, I write about how I came to be asked to join Ringo’s band and about my experience of being on the road with him, alongside Steve Lukather, Colin Hay, Gregg Rolie, Warren Ham and Gregg Bissonette, who also plays drums on three of the album’s tracks.”
Graham said, “I can’t begin to tell you what a pleasure it was making Modesty Forbids and to be able to work with so many fine musicians. When listening back to the album I realise that there are two recurring themes. One is about climate change awareness and the other is a call for ‘peace and love’. These two subjects may be clichés, but I don’t care – as long as we take action on the first and practice the second we’ll all be ok.”
Pre-order Modesty Forbids here, or at you local record store.
In addition to global dates with 10cc, Graham will be touring the UK in March:
Tickets available now from all venues and ticket agencies.
Thanks to Robert Elms for inviting Graham onto his BBC Radio London show. Listen to the interview – including 2 new songs – here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07xn2x4
Graham Gouldman interviewed by Jim White and Natalie Sawyer on TalkSPORT radio, 6th December 2019.
10cc’s Graham Gouldman will embark on a run of UK tour dates in March and April 2020 to coincide with the release of his first solo album in eight years.
Long-established as one of the world’s greatest songwriters, Graham’s 14-date tour with his semi-acoustic band Heart Full of Songs begins in Gateshead on 19th March and ends in Cardiff on 4th April, including a date at London’s Union Chapel on 26th March.
Graham’s new solo album – the fifth of his career, and his first since 2012’s ‘Love And Work’ – is scheduled for release on 20th March on Lojinx.
With 10cc tours enjoying ever-increasing success around the world, in 2018 Graham was invited by The Beatles’ drummer Ringo Starr to join his All Starr Band for tours of Europe and the USA, during which the band played three 10cc songs, elevating Graham’s profile yet further.
That relationship continues, with Ringo making a very special guest appearance on Graham’s new album, playing drums on a song called ‘Standing Next To Me’.
Graham said, “Playing with Ringo Starr and The All Starr Band was absolutely brilliant, and having Ringo play drums on one of my new album’s songs was the icing on the cake. The song is about how I came to be asked to join his band, and about my experience of being on the road with Ringo alongside Steve Lukather, Colin Hay, Gregg Rolie, Warren Ham and Gregg Bissonette, who also plays drums on four of the album’s tracks.”
When Graham formed what became Heart Full of Songs it was purely for the pleasure of playing his songs in their simplest form: acoustically. The format became so popular that the acoustic four-piece undertook its first concert tour in April-May 2013.
The band now tours across Belgium, Germany, Holland and the UK and comprises Graham, Ciaran Jeremiah, Dave Cobby and either Iain Hornal, Nick Kendal or Andy Park, depending on their various commitments.
For lovers of perfectly-crafted music performed by the composer, a Heart Full of Songs concert is truly an exquisite experience, featuring 10cc classics such as I’m Not In Love, Dreadlock Holiday and The Things We Do For Love, Bus Stop – a hit for The Hollies, For Your Love (The Yardbirds) and Bridge To Your Heart (Wax), along with some new material.
Graham’s songwriting status was acknowledged in 2014 with his induction into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame – an arm of America’s National Academy of Music. Previous inductees include Noel Coward, Irving Berlin, Burt Bacharach, Neil Sedaka, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Leonard Cohen and Sting.
That was followed in 2015 by Broadcast Music Incorporated in the US anointed him an Icon of the Industry at a special ceremony in London, where he wowed the audience with an acoustic rendition of I’m Not In Love, accompanied by Lisa Stansfield on vocals.
Around that time, Graham got another unexpected lift. It happened backstage at the UK’s Cropredy Festival when Robert Plant walked up and thanked him for writing one of the songs that got him through the audition to join Led Zeppelin. The song was For Your Love.
Looking ahead to the tour, Graham said, “I always love taking my Heart Full Of Songs show on tour. Acoustic performances always create a very intimate atmosphere where every song – which is what it’s all about – can truly be heard. It also gives me a chance to explain how the songs came about and something of the writing process. We’ll see you there.”
The full Heart Full of Songs tour:
Tickets available now from all venues and ticket agencies. Album pre-order details coming soon.
Self-titled Astral Drive album #2… sort of… aka “Green”. Although this is an album of new recordings it’s designed as a companion piece, an extension to the original Astral Drive record.
“After playing my songs solo and acoustically during promotion of the album, Andrew at Lojinx gave me the idea to strip down and “recycle” the summer-bleached original recordings and go back to their green grass roots, the essence of the songs, with me singing at the piano.”
“I recorded the original album with an avalanche of ideas and off-the-cuff performances that caught the vibe, in the moment. I aimed to capture the spirit of the songs as they bubbled up from a fragment of melody or a line of scribbled lyrics and formed into a full-on production.”
“The theme of this ‘Green’ album was to strip away the production from the original recordings and shine an astral light on the songs from a different angle. I re-recorded them in a more basic form, added some spicy herbs, and then served it all with some chilled vibes. Like an astral green curry.”
“There’s a few name-dropping guest performances from Keith Scott on guitar and Gary Breit on piano and vocals (Bryan Adams band), David Munday on harmonica (who had sat in on my live performances) and Kasim Sulton (Todd Rundgren’s band) on vocals. My daughter Maddy also sings harmony vocal too.”
So, here it is… Astral Drive, the ‘Green’ album, back to basics with, hopefully, a few spicy surprises.