There are many things that usually make the first couple of days of the working week a bearable experience, and I can categorically say that for us all of them involve coffee in some capacity – mostly drinking it, sometimes just thinking about it. Anyway, it isn’t often that we’re lucky enough to have the gaps between cups of brain-fuel given some kind of meaning by new music from the Olympians lads, which is why this week is a bit special, as their new EP the “Adventure Gun” was finally released yesterday for your listening pleasures!

In case you missed all the internet spam last night, including a heavily (and appropriately) capitalised email transmission, you will be pleased to hear that the EP is available on CD (in beautiful gatefold packaging designed by David Drake and assembled by the lads themselves) and digital download from their Bandcamp page now, where you can also stream the EP in it’s entirety.

Without over-hyping it too much, expect to be suitably impressed, if not totally fucking blown away this “synth-based harmony porn Odyssey” (as one reviewer described it). It definitely has all the hallmarks of an Olympians release – glorious harmonies, cleverly layered synths, and RIFFS, but with a much more mature sound that sees the lads really challenging themselves musically. Equally, far from being just a collection of their recent output, “Adventure Gun” really works as an EP, flowing perfectly from start to finish and keeping your attention held in a vice-like grip throughout, to the extent that several times now I’ve put it on intending to listen to a track or two, only to discover  22 minutes or so later that I’d listened to the whole bloody thing without realising…again.

I could write reams and reams about how great “Adventure Gun” is, but I won’t A: because The 405 pretty much already vocalised all my thoughts on the EP in a much more eloquent and readable fashion here and B: you can listen for yourself right here.  Feel free to go have a listen to it now, we’ll just wait here for a bit so we can have a nice chat about how great it is when you get back.

The day is finally upon us – following their sold-out show at Chapter in Cardiff on Saturday night, Winter Villains incredible debut album “February” is out today both on digital and digital download! It’s been a good while in the planning – we were originally going to release the record last September, but decided to push back the release date to give us time to do it justice on the promotional front – but as I’m sure anyone that’s heard the record will agree, it’s been well worth the wait!

We’ve said it many a time before, but honestly it’s really hard to believe that such a magnificent and accomplished record is the band’s debut album – I think many bands (us included!) would be pretty pleased if they’d achieved something of this quality for their third or fourth release, let alone their FIRST!

Of course we’re a tad biased, what with Winter Villains being both our good friends and musical peers  an’ all, but it’s honestly well worth at the very least streaming the album on their Bandcamp HERE, and if you’re as blown away by it as we were investing in either a digital or physical copy.

The band still have a number of their album tour dates left this month (including a London date with label-mates Olympians), as well as some festival dates over summer, so plenty of opportunities to catch them live before they return to the practice room/studio to work on album #2.

24 Apr 2013 – The Wilmington Arms, London w/ Olympians

26 Apr 2013 – The Bird Cage, Norwich

27 Apr 2013 – The Caboose, Ramsgate

17 May 2013 – Gwyl Pili Pala Festival, Swansea

23 May – 2 Jun 2013 – How The Light Gets In Festival, Hay on Wye

27 Jul 2013 – The Chapel, Hay on Wye

Despite the bank holiday leaving us with an additional hangover to recover from this week, we’ve somehow managed to get everything in place to announce not just one, but two new releases AND a new addition to the Barely Regal family this week. Not bad considering I spent all of bank holiday Sunday getting towed from Carlisle to Brighton because our van died eh?

This next release was acutally meant to be announced last Thursday, but a complete lack of access to even the most basic of internet connection on tour meant I wasn’t able to get my dirty mitts on the masters in order to get the release up on our store in time to make that happen. Luckily, the band in question are not only really patient, but (being almost perpetually on tour via their various dabblings in music) were completely sympathetic to my wifi woes.

So, without further delay we’re stoked to welcome into the fold Crows An Wra!

Another band that we’ve got a long shared history with (dating back to when myself and Alex were still in Goodtime Boys), Crows An Wra are formed from the ashes of pretty much all of the good “heavy” bands from the Cornish music scene, including the likes of Kasa, Crocus, Serena Joy and Ravachol. They’re all bands that we’ve had the pleasure of touring with and seeing live numerous times, so it’s an honour to have their new outfit (featuring some of our favourite elements and members of the aftorementioned bands) on the roster.

The self-proclaimed “screamo Mars Volta” (which should give you a fair idea of what they sound like), we’ll be releasing their debut EP on 10” vinyl this June, which you can listen to in full and pre-order from our online store HERE. The artwork (see below) by Justin Bryan Nelson is incredible, and it’s going to be on pressed on ultra-clear vinyl, so the whole package is going to look pretty mint. We’ve only got 50 copies in stock, so best to pick one up sooner rather than later if you’re keen to get your hands on a copy!

Crows will be announcing a full European tour (including both UK and EU dates) in the next few weeks, so keep an eye on their Facebook page for more info.

Remember when we put out all the Olympians Book Club singles last year and kept harping on about the fact it was a means for them to keep releasing material whilst they were writing for a new EP? Well, this wasn’t merely a ruse to lull you into thinking that it was totally ok for them to be releasing singles all the time – we’re excited to announce that said EP is not only written and recorded, but will be materialising later this month! It’s called “Adventure Gun”, it’s bloody brilliant, and it’ll be out on the 29th April as a limited edition CDEP and digital download.

You can stream/download the lead track from the EP, “Filling My Heart With Weird Dreams” from HERE now, and watch the video for the track below:

It was filmed in a brewery by excellent Milk Time Productions (the guys behind that Delta Sleep video), and they managed to film the whole thing without even getting drunk or anything (carefully avoiding accidental beer osmosis), which takes a fair bit of willpower I would imagine, and shows their dedication to this whole “releasing a new EP” thing.

Those of you who’ve been lucky enough to catch the band live recently will attest I’m sure that Olympians’ most recent offerings are a pretty significant progression from their old material, even from the Book Club tracks. All the signature elements of an Olympians track are still there – lush vocal harmonies, cleverly layered synths and instrumentation, highly concentrated vibes – but even more cleverly structured and with an infinitely more accomplished sound than previous recordings. Less math-rock, more thinking man’s pop, I guess.

But don’t take our word for it, check out the single above, and go and catch them at one of their April tour dates.

4 Apr 2013 – Gwidhw, Cardiff w/ My Grey Horse and Scriber

5 Apr 2013 – Labour Club, Northampton

19 Apr 2013 – The Firefly, Worcester

21 Apr 2013 – Hog in Armour, Norwich w/ The Physics House Band

25 Apr 2013 – Avondale House, Southampton w/ The Physics House Band

Keep your eyes trained our online store (and this here site) for news on the EP pre-orders soon.

After two relatively successful gigs at The Old Blue Last back in January (thanks to everyone that came out to see Birthmark and 1994!), we’re fully back on promoting shows. We’ve already announced four shows between now and the end of May, and still have several more than we’re confirming line-ups for as we speak, so now seemed like as good a time as ever to do a bit of a round-up of the gigs we’ll be putting up in the build up to summer…

Hail! the Planes / R. Seiliog / Mars to Stay – 18.03.13 – Four Bars, Cardiff

Remember when we said last summer that, with us sadly vacating Cardiff for the foreseeable future, we wouldn’t be able to put on shows there anymore? Well, apparently we’re easily led astray, because all it took was a lovely email from the Hail! The Planes lot to make us change our minds about that entirely, hence the above is happening on Monday!

It’s our first co-promotion with Fizzi Events (who, along with Dave “the planes” Neale have done the lions share of the work organising and promoting this!), and we’re pretty honoured to have our name to such a strong line-up featuring some of our favourite bands from South Wales. Hopefully now with the addition of a Cardiffian to the Barely Regal team there should be plenty more where this came from in the future…

Seventy Times Seven with Best Friends, Nai Harvest and loads more… – 23.03.13 – Old Blue Last, London

Our second London co-promotion with the Zine and Not Heard chaps, as well as our old Simply Rad buddy Jen Long, who’s been kind enough to less us curate one of her infamous Seventy Times Seven nights! Rather than do the sensible thing and pick two bands we like, as per the standard format for the night, we decided to turn this into a half-day extravaganza, with seven bands headed up by Best Friends and Nai Harvest (full line-up here), followed by Jen playing (hopefully) as many Limp Bizkit tracks as time allows. And probably some other stuff too. I’ll be the one requesting “Adidas” by KoRn for the millionth time.

Hop Along / The Sidekicks / Eugene Quell / Muncie Girls – 28.04.13 – The Old Blue Last – London

With my listen count for Hop Along’s debut record “Get Disowned” numbering somewhere in the thousands, it goes without saying that I’m pretty chuffed that we’ll be putting on the London date of their tour with The Sidekicks. Support comes from Toby of Shoes and Socks Off/Meet Me In St Louis fame doing one of his first shows under his new moniker “Eugene Quell”, as well as the excellent Muncie Girls. Tickets are going fast already, so best to get yourself one from HERE if you’re thinking of coming.

Baton Rouge / Carson Wells / Plaids / Skylark / Courtyards – 04.05.13 – London (venue TBC)

Words cannot describe how excited I am that not only are Baton Rouge FINALLY touring the UK (huge thanks to Joe C from Plaids for leaning on the right people to make this happen!), but also that we’re putting on the London date of the tour! To make an appropriately big deal of this, we’ve assembled a line-up of some of our favourite post-punk bands from around the country, including the mighty Carson Wells and Plaids. No venue for this one yet (as our usual go-to venues were all booked up, boo…), but if you’re thinking of coming keep your eyes peeled on the facebook event HERE, which we’ll update as soon as we have more information on that.

Leaving Cardiff for the bright lights of London was a difficult decision for us. On the one hand, we were pretty excited to be moving because of the new opportunities it presented, but on the other hand leaving behind the thriving music scene in Cardiff and all of friends that we’d grown up with, both as a band and a label, was not easy. As a result, we’ve always tried to stay as connected to Cardiff and the music scene in South Wales as much as possible, which is why we’re pleased to announce that we’re actually going to have a physical presence there again, in the form of our latest addition to the Barely Regal team – our good friend Jen Moseley!

Some of you may have already been well aware that Jen is working with us now (she’s been doing bits and bobs to help for a while now, and actually manned our stall at the record fair in Cardiff last week!), but seeing as moving from a team of two to a team of three is a relatively big deal for us, we thought we’d make an appropriately big song and dance about this.

Here are words from Jen on the subject:

I’m Jen, and I’m lucky enough to know some pretty ace people. I met some of these in my hometown of Worcester, where I spent my formative years watching all sorts of bands and learning all sorts of things about what music was, what music existed and what music I really got excited about. Although I didn’t realise it at the time, I think there was a “scene” there, and some pretty special things came out of it. Unfortunately for some people involved (myself included), Worcester just couldn’t offer the opportunity we were looking for and I came to Cardiff. But it seems that music is bringing us back together again…

To elaborate, friends from a city left behind now comprise two brilliant acts on the Barely Regal roster, and friends made in the city I now call home make up another two. I bloody love watching bands, these especially, so it was really only a matter of time before I ended up meeting Matt and Isaac and befriending more of the Barely Regal family. Now that they have drifted down to the end of the M4 I believe to be paved with gold, I remain here to continue locally their good work, the work of being TOTALLY STOKED for excellent bands and music.

I’m really excited for what’s on the cards for BR this year, and that I get to be part of it. When the label started in 2009 (wow, over three years ago!) I heard a bit about it and went to some gigs, but that was that. I had no idea I’d end up getting involved and learning everything I have so far. Not many things make me tick like seeing people playing music I really like so if I can help them continue and build upon that endeavour then I’m pretty much made up.

I’m not going to spend any of our time talking about what bands my life has been shaped by or what’s in my head at the moment (that’s kind of a big question) but if you want a taster just look in the sidebar on the right there, or email me at Jenny@barelyregalrecords.com and we can go for a pint and chat about it.

Stay WUFT,

Jen

As you can see from her use of “TOTALLY STOKED” and “WUFT” she’s already taken our label style guide to heart.

Jen will be helping out with all manner of things, from managing our social media, to helping get our accounts and stock in order, to being our contact for bands in Cardiff, to generally shouting at us when we’re procrastinating too much (“why haven’t you emailed [INSERT BANDNAME HERE] back yet?!”).

We’re really excited to have her on board – she’s already contributed a hell of a lot in the short time she’s been helping us out – and it’ll be great to see how the label evolves with an extra pair of hands to pitch in with stuff. Those of you who already know Jen will know that she’s bloody lovely, those of you who don’t  should look forward to meeting her in the near future.

As promised, it’s about time that we (finally!) spilled the beans on our next release – Without Maps debut album, “Capillaries”. Much like Theo’s debut album, this is one that we’ve had waiting in the wings for a good while now, slowly maturing like a fine wine, to the point where we’re excited to announce that it’ll finally be ready for your consumption on the 25^th March.

The album will be out on that date on both CD and digital download, numbering a full 10 tracks of post-punk  joy which evoke everything from Braid to Blood Brothers (which, with reference points like that, should leave you in little doubt as to why they’re one of our favourite new bands!).

For those of you who want to listen to the whole album now (and believe me, you do), you can pre-order the CD album from barelyregalrecords.bandcamp.com, which comes with an instant download of all 10 tracks ahead of the release date. If you’re either strapped for cash, or just need a little more convincing that purchasing the record is a really great idea (which it most certainly is), then you can download two songs for free first via that very same link.

To coincide with news of the album release, the lads have announced a number of live dates in March/April, as well as news of a full UK tour in May with Bayoné in May (full dates TBA):

25 March 2013 – Cooking Jar, Leicester w/ Gunning For Tamar

28 Mar 2013 – Ryan’s Bar, Derby w/ Gunning For Tamar

5 Apr 2013 – JT Soar, Nottingham w/ Delta Sleep, Well Wisher

May 2013 – UK tour with Bayoné (full dates TBA)

*

This release marks a fairly big milestone for us as it’s not only the first release we’ll be putting out by Without Maps, but also the first proper release we’ll be working on with the band’s own label, 49s v Dolphins Records. How it’s taken us so bloody long to team up on something properly is quite surprising (or at least it would be, were it not for our reputation as serial procrastinators), but it’s great to be working with another label that we really love and admire, and most importantly one that shares our love of cutting and sticking things – if we had a joint family crest it would almost certainly involve scissors and glue (and probably the word “WUFT” somewhere).  In fact, as we speak Nick and Rory are gluing together the cases for the CDs (featuring the incredible artwork above by Carrie Sterland) – photos to follow soon!

It seems like 2013 is the year where we get committal, finally bringing bands into the fold that have been unofficially a part of the Barely Regal family for a good while now. Nottingham lads Without Maps maybe haven’t been on our radar for quite as long as our last “signing”, Theo, but they’ve been a really important part of our label’s evolution – helping us to book our first ever tours in 2010, sorting numerous shows for our bands, and (mostly importantly) bringing to my attention that the midlands doesn’t count as “up north” (although as someone who’s never lived north of the M4 corridor I maintain that it totally DOES).

Since then the Without Maps guys have become some of our closest friends – to the point where Nottingham is fast become by home-away-from-home – and one of our favourite bands in the country, so we’re thrilled to announce that at long last they’ll be joining our roster.

We’ve got imminent news on their debut album release coming next week, but in the meantime head over to their Bandcamp page where you can download their last two singles (“Naked Light” and “JCVD”) for the price of on the house. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of listening to them already, think Q and Not U, Desaparecidos and Meneguar (the latter coincidentally being a band that their drummer Rory introduced me to in the first place!).

SO THEN, time for the second bit of release-related news we have for you this week

We’ve working on this one in the administrative shadows for what feels like bloody ages now, so it’s with much excitement that we’re proud to finally announce that we’ll be releasing Theo’s debut album, “Loom” this summer! It’s not only our first release working with Sam, but also our first co-release with Japanese label HOU Records (the promoter that put on the incredible Toe/This Town Needs Guns all-dayer show last year), so a doubly exciting venture for ourselves.

While we haven’t settled on a specific release date as such yet, we can tell you that it’ll be out this June on 12″ vinyl on our humble little label, and CD on HOU Records in Japan (although we’ll almost certainly be stocking some copies in the BR distro is CDs are your thing). Oh, and we can also tell you that it’s fucking brilliant.

Seeing as we wanted to give you a small window into just how great the album is ahead of that date, we’ve put the first track from the record (“I AM DESTRUCTOR”) up to stream/for free download HERE. The solid bros at Musical Mathematics also premiered the video for the track earlier today, which you can watch HERE (or right below!).

If that small taste of the album just isn’t enough to sate your hunger for new Theo tracks then never fear – “Loom” is now up for pre-order on 12″ vinyl from our store HERE, and all pre-orders will come with an instant digital download of all five tracks from the record, plus two digital-only bonus tracks.

So that’s the important stuff out of the way, now for the mushy stuff. We’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Sam is a really good friend of ours, and we’ve been massive fans of his music since well before the idea to start a label even occured to us, so it’s a bit of a honour to be releasing his debut album and in my opinion his best output as a musician to date. When Sam explained to us the concept for the record at a previous “meeting” (read: pub trip) – which, FYI involved him sampling field recordings of industrial looms (hence the name!) to build naturally occuring mechanically rhythms around the guitars/drums/percussion, we were pretty blown away, and that’s before we’d even heard the recordings. Naturally the tracks more than delivered, and hopefully you’ll enjoy them as much as we do.

But enough of us ranting on about how good it is and filling your head with “cool story bro”s, we should probably give you a  chance to listen to the damn thing yourselves. Happy downloading/purchasing!

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So the first of two very exciting bits of news we have for you this week – Winter Villains new single “The Air” is out today! The second single from their debut album, February (which will be out this April), it’s yet another song by the melancholy lads and lasses that leaves you wondering how a band so new can be this damn good. We’re obviously a tad biased, but still, you’d maybe expect a song this accomplished from a band on their third or fourth album cycle, not a band that haven’t even released their debut record yet!

You can buy the track digitally from Winter Villains Bandcamp page HERE (as well as all other reputable digital retailers - iTunes/Amazon.Spotify), which we wholeheartedly recommend you do.

Following on from the live session the band did for the track a few weeks back, they’ve also now unveiled the rather moving music video for the track (see above), featuring performances from some familiar Cardiff faces. As if we didn’t miss South Wales enough already, Winter Villains have to go and do a video set in the Brecon Beacons and starring some of our good friends. Inconsiderate bastards.