Zapoppin'

Tomorrow we take to the road for the Z vs G UK tour starting in London and finishing in Falmouth. Dates (unless otherwise stated) will see sets from Zapoppin’ and Julian Gaskell solo with headline slots where we play all together hootenanny-style. It’s been hella fun doing this this down in Cornwall, so we’re looking forward to bringing it to other towns. Hope to see you!

Confirmed dates are as follows:

Friday 30th March - Jamboree, London, UK

Saturday 31st March - The Old Road Tavern, Chippenham, UK

Tuesday 3nd April - The Kings Arms, Salford, UK (w/ Black River)

Wednesday 4th April - Ort, Birmingham, UK

Friday 6th April - The Ropemakers, Bridport, UK

Saturday 7th April - 5 below, Falmouth, UK

To celebrate our forthcoming tour with Julian Gaskell, Damnsonic have issued the complete 12 track album (as it was originally considered for release last May) which includes our first four double a singles, the original master of ‘Another Pearly Wotnot’ and three as yet unreleased tracks – ‘A Pearly Wotnot’, ‘High Entropy Blues’ and ‘The Most Natural Thing in the World’.

At the time we were dubious about releasing another album so quickly after Antiquarian Party Ballads For Dames as much of the promotion for that record was still in motion. However, Mr Gaskell was keen to record us for a day (and we needed something up-to-date to haul at audience members on our European tour the following June) so we decided to record as much as possible as quickly and as purely as we could one spring day in Redruth.

Zapoppin’ had the opportunity to act like debutants again, and the complete album makes for a curious listen, where the pastoral melodic sound of the Harmonium strolls without urgency at the front and the quicker banjo tracks pierce them occasionally like twangy pins sticking out of a chewy groaning cushion. It couldn’t really contrast more starkly to the taut polished sub-two-minute powerskiffle on Antiquarian…  and while – at the time – I thought we were taking a more typical approach to music-making (normal length songs, an almost conventional drum-kit, etc) we now view …Pearly Wotnots as a happy little experiment which is certainly as oddly Z-Shaped as anything else we’ve done. Perhaps because we were flirting with some popular music forms pretty heavily while respectively learning new instruments, and having to operate as a duo again. Or somethin’.

We hope you enjoy the full, pure, release – available to download here with a badge winging your way if you buy it for a pound.

Our ‘Tears’ reworking got the video treatment from the icy time lapse champion, Ben Gregory.

Our new 7”: Zapoppin’ & Jaxson Payne Another Pearly Wotnot / Tears released in association with Koept and Damnsonic. Available to buy here.

50 down. 50 to go. Z

Our first show of the new year. Supporting Way Through! Advance tickets available from here. Facebook page here.

This song is taken from our new 7” split EP with Mr Payne, now available for pre-order! Jono Toomey did the video.

Another Pearly Wotnot was a harmonium instrumental outtake from the Julian Gaskell session which spawned our 2011 singles. After we recorded that batch of tracks we sent them over to our good friend Jaxson Payne to see if he’d want to use a sample or something for any project he was working on. 

We didn’t speak for a few months until, out of the blue, we received an email from Jaxson saying he’d made a bunch of remixes including the attached version of Another Pearly Wotnot. We were blown away by the epic majesty he had been able to bring out of what originally seemed little more than an insular wintry chord progression. 

From there we got to thinking of releasing a one-sided 7” white label of just this remix but the project grew and grew until we got this weird musical document of electronic/analog swappings on the subject of loss. Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

XXX

Massive Z-thanks to Sam Bradbury for the use of his Da Vinci spider for the front cover of The First Four Singles. It took us a bit of time to get the artwork right for these tracks, but Sam’s unending generosity with painting and collaging at our request and loaning us his sketchbooks resulted in something we really bloody love!

We have just three of the original Euro-tour promo single sets left, collectors and completists can purchase these from here too for £5 (inc. download).

Ahoy Zedders! Just a quick update to tell you all about the Z-tastic weekend we just had.

On Friday we ventured up to Northampton’s Legendary Labour Club to join Glowglobes and JJ Stone in launching the Serious Types #1 compilation on which we all appear. It was a pretty cool night. We opened to a tentative but appreciative audience (there was some dancing) with a set that seemed, at times, very comfortable, and in parts a bit shaky.

We had a fun time though, meeting a whole bunch of new fans and getting to hang out with Gary and Bekki. We look forward to doing more shows and releases with the Types in future.

Early on Saturday morning we bundled ourselves into the Clio and drove down to London for a date with The Hello Goodbye Show on Resonance FM.

Due to a couple of the originally scheduled acts (Alexander Tucker and Hong Kong in the 60s) pulling out from the show, Resonance kindly allowed us to perform two sets in addition to an interview. Incidentally, we were so pleased with this opportunity for unabashed self-indulgence, we mixed ‘n’ mastered the recordings and put ‘em up on the Bandcamp. Enjoy!

Our track ‘Oh, Martello’ is featured on the first Serious Types compilation alongside seven other cool acts such as Sharks and The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band. The 10” vinyl edition is now available to pre-order at the above link. Z

Our first video.

…and can also be purchased at iTunes and Amazon.

Our friend PT Burnem posted up some sweet footage from a Z-tastic gig we did with him and Height With Friends on a boat called The Jolly in Caen during our recent Euro-tour. Thanks to Pascal for sorting the gig and filming tha shiz!

Creatine Creature

(The) Lurch (I left you in)

Pumpin’ Out the BTUs

Height With Friends - The World

Height With Friends - The Woods

PT Burnem - Hell

PT Burnem - Baltimore 09

PT Burnem - Acapella

The first three Zapoppin’ discs (Z 1, Parma Violence and Introducin’ Zapoppin’) have been remastered and are all available for download from zapoppin.bandcamp.com for £1 or more if you’re feeling za-generous.  

In terms of physical copies, We have a handful of the promo cardboard-sleeved Parma Violence and Introducin’ Zapoppin’ releases left which can also be gotten from bandcamp at the same price as the digi-ones.  The sleeves are from the original batches cut and stuck together by the band when we had a spare moment during our first two tours - but, we have of course, replaced the old discs with the remastered ones.  

We have now sold out of the original Z 1 CDRs so unless you’re happy with the digital download you’ll have to wait until the deluxe hologramatic lazerdisc edition comes out… scheduled to be dropped in 2107.  Peace in dudes!

Today we received a postcard from an old friend.

He is gone. But not forgotten.

SADFACE.

 - Z

At the beginning of June we were invited to Switzerland to play at the prestigious week-long music festival, Gwenstival.  The trip took in dates in Caen and Zurich along the way – and we figured the mini-tour would be as good a time as any to showcase the new Zapoppin’ duo line-up incorporating the ‘Z-kit’ and Tom switching between harmonium and banjo.

After pressing up some promo singles, packing our stuff and getting treated like prize stooges by car hire firm Enterprise, we were on the road to Portsmouth (in a phat Ford Focus from Cornish Motors) to rendezvous with driver Jim and catch our ferry.  We made it in 4 hours and even got to visit Tom’s folks for a cup of tea along the way.

The first show was in Caen on a Wednesday night.  We arrived in the city early and looked around the old streets as the place was waking up.  For the afternoon, we went to meet our friend Laura in nearby Rots – one of the most French-looking villages you’re likely to see and home to the biggest supermarket we ever did see: CORA.  Laura had helped us sort out the show (with Pascal at Ecuyes) and was putting us up for the night in a sweet farmhouse with loads of musicians/creative types hanging out, working on projects and making us feel quite at home.

The gig was pretty special.  The venue was a boat called The Jolly moored on a canal near the centre of town.  We’ve played on a few boats before, but this was quite a different affair, with the vessel itself serving as a stage and the audience gathering on the quay giving the whole shindig a free party vibe.  We couldn’t have hoped for better weather as Height With Friends opened the show with his unique rap brand.  With songs about sugar addiction and Link Wray we were all fans after he played – and he was a bloody nice bloke too.  

We followed Height with what felt like a bit of a patchy set, but it was a good laugh.  The drums were set up on wooden box in the middle of the boat which gave Luke a makeshift mega-sub for a fine boomin’ sound.  And even though it was part of the architecture of The Jolly, this could technically be his first riser.  Some tracks certainly came across better than others – but it was a cool first set o’ the tour.

PT Burnem headlined like a pro with a diverse hip-hop set drawing on a range of sources.  He was great to watch, climbing up the rigging, pulling in-crowd acapellas and making use of his sampler/drum machine.  He looked quite at home on that old metal tug.  The sun shone, we drank some Burgbrau stubbies, hung out with some new cool dudes and cruised back to Rots.

The following day we started our long old trek down to Lugano.  To break the journey Laura in Caen suggested we stay with her friend Seb in Clarmont-Ferrand, home of Volvic mineral water and Michelin tyres.  It was a good job we took her advice, it was around 7pm before we got into town, drove the wrong way up a one way street and finally met up with Seb.  We had a good night drinking, listening to records and eating falafel.  We will be back to play here next time.

Our trip through the Alps was tolled to high hell.  We paid to see the inside of Mont Blanc, the inside of smaller mountains and even paid for more pedestrian roads and scenery.  This said, it was pleasant, verging on deeply impressive.  The weather held up until we eventually got into Italy.  Where they write political opinion on the side of hills.  Again, verging on deeply impressive.  Our inclination by this point, was to see if any supermarket would beat CORA in Rots.  This one had a multi-story car park.  But I am unsure of whether this was a plus point or not.  It did have a trolley collection guy who was bent double, heaving lines of trolleys that would make ASDA Penryn turn further pallid.

In anycase, we arrived in Lugano after crossing the Swiss border.  It was like a queue into a crazy hiking theme park at the border.  The queue went pretty much into the centre of the city, a rich James Bond city.  We were spotted by a man who later turned out to be the sound man and all-round nice chap, Gianmaria, as we approached the venue.  It was mizzling over a collection of buildings that made-up two stage rooms, two bars and a courtyard with merch stand and seating.

We sound checked and met fellow musicians of that night, one of several nights of the Gwenstival; a Swiss electro-fusion guy called Sexomodular, avant-acoustic casio duo I Camillas and one man blues dude and anecdote machine Bob Log III.  All thoroughly enjoyable.

Despite some small soundcheckin’ worries, we opened the whole darn thing at a time which I forget.  The crowd were in good spirits.  It was always a gamble taking such a lyrically focussed band away.  I felt I totally over-estimated the language barrier.  I barely look up when I play, but it looked enjoyed and understood.  It was nice playing on the same level as the crowd.  This was an important one for us to get right, and I think we both gave it some guts.  We were spoilt rotten by those guys that night, food and drink and a little caravan to sit in.

We all drove in a convoy to a hostel.  I cannot comment on this as I was drunk.  And I was drunk when we woke two hours later to begin our trip to Zurich for the show at Binz.  We rushed into the car and started north through the country.

The scenery got more deeply impressive, and we got diverted by a small town where we went swimming in an Alpine lake alongside the mountains and a big ferry boat.  We made slow progress toward Zurich and eventually made it in good time to get lost.  Our man, Nino, found us on his bike and directed us to the venue (between which we got lost again).

The venue was an epic industrial complex housing workshops, art, studios and a fair whack of inhabitants.  We were a part of a five band night (I recall?), the other bands being various varieties of metal.  We were fed tofu after a sound-check and went on sometime around 9 or 10.  Days and times were beginning to blur.  I remember this set was us two on the edge of it.  Well, I was.  My voice was going, the room felt hard to crack (but I think they were on our side and enjoying it) and the lines were wearing me out.  We were in danger of it falling to pieces more than the other sets, but in retrospect I reckon it was our loudest.

We decided after much deliberation to drive solidly through the night and spend the spare time in France before the ferry.  We caught a set by a metal instrumental duo called Minor (or could be Myna, Miner, Minah… ).  They won the award of loudest thing we done see this tour.

We drove through Basel, a storm, lots of tolls, and eventually ended up in Le Havre with hours to spare.  We found respite in a pub from the endless rain before getting searched by the musician detection squad, enjoying the “reclining” seats, and getting back solidly to England.

These 4 double a-side singles are packed and stacked, coinciding with the launch of the final episode on Bandcramp; Dark as Dogs Guts & In The Mud.

Hear the whole shebang now on our Bandcramp.

We’re taking these suckers on our European jaunt tomorrow, but I’m sure some will be left when we come back to Cornwall. Nice!

Gracenote. You will recognise Powerskiffle one day.

- Tom Z