Dear friends
Blimey, there’s a lot to tell you so I’ll try to cut out the usual waffle
But first 😉... we ended this year's run of shows on Nov1st at the fabulous Trading Boundaries, and what a night we had! I’d heard many good things about the venue but was frankly blown away by the whole experience. It’s run by an extended family (Clann in Gaelic... more on that later ;-)) who immediately make you feel right at home.Then there's the venue itself and the galleries (including Roger Dean’s art) which are just gorgeous. Highly recommended if you’re ever in East Sussex.
Here’s a few of Howard Rankin’s photos from the evening.
Return To Cropredy
And so to the new Return To Cropredy release out now and AVAILABLE HERE! on Blu-ray/CD or USB-A drive (so cute!)
My copies arrived a couple of weeks ago but I’m sorry to say that a glitch at the distribution warehouse has meant that pre-orders only started dropping through doors last week. Apologies to all who’ve been waiting.
On the bright side, I’m absolutely delighted with the result and hope you will be too. The 2-disc ecopak consists of the live CD and a blu-ray which includes the full concert film, 24 bit audio and Shaun Blake’s brilliant ‘New Light’ documentary. There's even Shaun's full interviews with Steven Wilson and Gregory Spawton which, as heroes of mine, left me humbled and elated after hearing about their love for the music.
As the first blu-ray release I’ve been involved with, I made sure it was formatted for, and thoroughly tested in, different regions. Despite this they’ve have been a couple of mercifully rare reports of the disc not playing correctly. Should you have any problems please reply to this email and we’ll find a solution.
Buy Return To Cropredy Blu-ray/CD or USB-A
The 'Clann' album
Clann will complete our 'Sia' Trilogy with a title that reflects the feeling of family that's evolved within and around the band. The final parts are being recorded and the process of mixing has begun.
On Friday I had the huge pleasure of working at Grand Chapel Studios recording brass parts with these three stunning musicians, Phil Bainbridge, Toby Carr and Luke Bainbridge. Huge thanks to our amazing Guardians for making this possible!!
And on Sunday Jess brought tears to my eyes (again) after completing her work on the album with the most beautiful and moving vocal I've heard... from day one Jess has intuitively understood the music and I just can't tell you what an inspiration that is. Such a blessing.
The 'Clann' Tour
The Return To Cropredy Blu-ray/CD marks our first release through Progrock.com's Essentials and the second will be the new studio album 'Clann'.
Clann is from the Gaelic for extended family, friends and kindred, which just seems perfect given the dynamic within the band itself and with all of you who give the music life through your support.
We're fully focused on getting the new album ready for release in time for the Clann tour next April when we'll be jumping in a van and hitting the road together for the first time. Wish us luck and please join us if you can!
The brilliant Leoni Jane Kennedy will be stepping in for Ebony on harmony vocals and to open the shows from April 5th- April 13th. We're so looking forward to working with her!
Ebony and Nick have an amazing tour in The Netherlands early April but they'll be back for the last few shows! Ebony's tour info
The CLANN Tour dates confirmed so far are all here!
The Prog Rock Files
We're so grateful to Garry Foster, who continues to champion our music. Garry recently devoted a whole hour to the band which included our now traditional round up of the year. If you fancy a listen please click the image below
The Great Winter Solstice Sell Off!
We won't be ordering any more of the Cropredy keyboard warrior 'comments' shirts, so we've made the last few hoodies and T-shirts available by mail order from our Ko-fi page... just in time for you know what...
A reluctant spouse who was dragged to a recent show - and left unconverted - will be receiving a 'Solstice... Bloody Awful' T-shirt for Christmas from her loving husband. Of course, he thinks this is hilarious and remains confident it's the perfect gift... mmmm.. well see 🤣
There's only a few of each size, design and colour and some are a little wrinkled so they're all discounted by 25%.
Perfect for anyone who loves or hates the band. Clever eh? 🤪
I've just loaded them to our shop and, as I write this, the orders are coming in so If there's anything you fancy, please pop over and grab one HERE pronto. Thank you!
Ok, so now I must focus on the enormous though joyous task of completing the album, so this may well be my last missive before it's done. If so, I want to wish you a wonderful December and to thank you for all the support that's made 2024 another incredible year for us!
Here's hoping to see you at a gathering of some kind in 2025!
With love and thanks from us all
Andy X
Huge gratitude to Howard Rankin for this pic and the numerous other brilliant shots he's taken! X