The band celebrated their 21st anniversary with sold-out shows for the release of their 7th record, LOST IN THE CITY, at both Joe’s Pub in NYC and the deej in Washington DC. In NYC they were joined by special guest Antoine Silverman who played soaring gypsy fiddle on two of the songs, Walk Of Shame and I Don’t Regret. Rave reviews for the new record produced by Riley McMahon and also for the Joe’s Pub concert will be posted on the Press Page.
enemies
LOST IN THE CITY record release! /
The band's seventh record is due for release on iTunes on Tuesday November 27th.
LOST IN THE CITY is our most ambitious song cycle to date, a giddy brew of jazz, chanson, rock, blues and minimalism. The music reflects the raw energy and sophistication of the city the band has called home for the last two decades.
On Friday November 30th we celebrate the record's release and also our 21st anniversary at Joe's Pub in NYC. It will be our first show at the Public Theater since the release of English Dream in 2014. Doors are at 6pm, the show starts at 7pm. Find your tickets HERE. Alas, the hour-long set won't give us time to play all eighteen tracks from LOST IN THE CITY. So I'll just have to cut out the bad songs. Either that or no solos for Candace and Kevin.
The following night we head to Washington DC for a VIP backers party at the deej. Unless I'm impeached after the mid-terms.
More details and tickets on the GIGS page.
Germany /
After five scintillating East Coast spring shows with my Enemies I've retreated to Europe. Next plan: invade Germany. Playing three gigs this July, two in Berlin and one in Hildesheim. Accomplices? Matti Muller, German gypsy gentleman guitarist; Jonny Gee, lunatic Anglo bassist; Angie Stricker, beauteous Berlin siren. A debut for the quartet. Makes me very curious. Particularly regarding backing vocal harmony textures. Matti and Jonny did an excellent job in London last Christmas. Who knows what the added dimension of Ms. Stricker's steely tones will bring. A German Emmylou Harris perchance? All to be discovered soon. Check the shows page for details...
BLOODLINE /
I'm a wee bit chuffed about this. A song I wrote a while back will be the closing track of the closing episode of the new Netflix series, BLOODLINE, starring Kyle Chandler, Sissy Spacek, Chloe Sevigny and Sam Shepard.
I first blurted out ALL IN THE PAST in my old East Village apartment in about 2007. To this day I can't tell if it's bitter or righteous. "I was young not so long ago but that was then and you'll never know…" I took it to the band and it turned into even more of a rocker than I imagined.
A few years later we recorded it at Old Soul Studios and it became the fourth track of WILD GOOSECHASE EXPEDITION, our Independent Music Award-winning 2011 album produced by the incomparable Kenny Siegal and mixed by the sonically ingenious Tom Schick.
The band still plays the tune. In fact, it's one of the most liberating ditties in the repertoire for me to sing. I can't really explain why. I just still connect to it.
A couple of months ago Mark Wike, the BLOODLINE music supervisor, approached our LA rep Carol Sue Baker, and asked if she could find him "a dark song sung by an older dude about not being able to escape the past." Carol Sue kindly thought of me and supplied him with a few of my songs.
Completely coincidentally, one of the writers on the series is the remarkable novelist, Arthur Phillips. Arthur, a big fan of the band, had separately approached the show's producers recommending they use an Enemies track - thanks, Arthur! - but apparently by the time they were syncing the final episode they had completely forgotten his suggestion.
BLOODLINE will be released by Netflix in its entirety on Friday, March 20th. All thirteen episodes. And we're at the very end. A good excuse to binge-watch.