Zapoppin'

It’s that time again. Time to play at The Poly in Falmouth. So good we made all kinds of posters for you to enjoy. Enough of you book tickets, maybe we’ll print a commemorative postcard pack (unlikely, but come anyhow!)!

We are pleased to support Heart of a Dog and Milly Hirst, from Norwich-Upon-Tour. It is always a pleasure to reminisce with old friends across a night of folk musick. Getcher FB event page RIGHT HERE.

Till then, Z-Trekkers.

- Thomas G.J. Sharpe

Shrewd business types we are not. But in the lead-up to funding our next Z-shaped release, we figured we’d try and shift some old stock (some things we only have a handful of, by the by) and offer you, the powerskiffle consumer, the best Z-shaped deals of your life.

Stonking deal no. 1: Vinyl Bundle - £13

This bundle includes the Another Pearly Wotnot / Tears 4-track super 7” by us and Jaxson Payne, as well as the Serious Types #1 10” compilation which includes a track each by us, SHARKS, The Pussywarmers, The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band, Glowglobes, JJ Stone & The Campfire, The Severed Limb and Lightning Joe & The Furious 55s.

On its own, the Another Pearly Wotnot / Tears 7” is also at its lowest ever price: £4.50.

Stonking deal no. 2: Pearly Wotnots Bundle - £5

This bundle includes a digital version of The First Four Singles and Other Pearly Wotnots, as well as the Another Pearly Wotnot / Tears 4-track super 7” by us and Jaxson Payne.

The First Four Singles and Other Pearly Wotnots is also available to download as a standalone album for the first time. You can pay whatever you like for it!

Stonking deal no. 3: Serious Types Bundle - £13

This bundle includes our acclaimed “short-player” Antiquarian Party Ballads For Dames (on CD and digital), as well as the Serious Types #1 10” compilation which includes a track each by us, SHARKS, The Pussywarmers, The Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band, Glowglobes, JJ Stone & The Campfire, The Severed Limb and Lightning Joe & The Furious 55s.

On its own, the Antiquarian Party Ballads For DamesCD is now just £4, or you can download the blighter for whatever price you deem fair.

Stonking deal no. 4: All digital albums/EPs - £Pay-What-You-Like

For a limited time, download any of our long-players, extended-players and short-players for whatever price you like!

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!