Cranes (reunited)

Started by Ulrich, October 12, 2023, 13:55:32

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Ulrich

Cranes (a band who supported The Cure on the whole of the 1992 Wish tour) are back together again for a few shows.

https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/review-cranes-reunion-show-at-the-wedgewood-rooms-southsea-when-the-band-hit-their-stride-its-hypnotic-4364177

QuoteSo when they announced that they would be reforming to play a London date to mark the 30th anniversary of their cult classic album Forever, with the line-up that played on the album – a line-up which hadn't played together in 25 years, it was no surprise that it sold out quick smart.

A hometown warm-up date was soon added for The Wedge.

While this is a gig to mark Forever's anniversary they don't opt for the "play it in full" route - but the setlist does lean heavily on the album and the releases around it from their commercial heyday in the '90s.

One of the things that used to confound critics about Cranes was how to pigeonhole their sound – dream-pop, goth, art-rock, shoegaze? In reality they are all of this and more – Da Da 331 rides on a grinding groove while Sun and Sky – and several others – feature squa lling feedback from the twin guitar attack. Often heavier than on record, when the band hit their stride, it's hypnotic.

Beyond the London show later this month and one more booked in for next May, it's not known what the band's plans are (if any), but this was a timely reminder of an important act in the city's music history.
The holy city breathed like a dying man...

dsanchez

Actually travelling to London tomorrow to see them :)
2023.11.22 Lima
2023.11.27 Montevideo

Ulrich

Safe journey and enjoy the concert!  :smth023
The holy city breathed like a dying man...

Ulrich

From the band on FB:
QuoteWe are extremely excited to announce the re-issue of FUSE for the first time on vinyl and CD. Originally released as a cassette in 1986, the album has been completely re-mastered at Abbey Road and includes a totally unreleased track from the same period. Release date is APRIL 5th 2024.
The sleeve for the album has been beautifully designed by the very excellent Chris Bigg, with photography by our very own Mark!

The limited edition DINKED version of the album (on pink vinyl!) includes additional signed artwork and is available to pre-order from Dinked affiliated Records shops in the UK today.
A full list of Dinked shops can be found here: https://dinkededition.co.uk/shops

The DIGITAL version of the album is available for pre-order on Bandcamp from today with one track (Fuse- Original Version) available for download now and the remaining tracks to be delivered to you on the release date of April 5th. 
cranes.bandcamp.com

Please don't pre-order the digital if you intend to order the physical as you will receive free download with the physical.

We are also very happy to announce that the black vinyl and CD editions will soon be available by  MAIL ORDER  to UK and USA via Bandcamp with affordable postage for USA customers.  (Bandcamp pre-order date for vinyl and CD mail order to be announced soon!)
Due to the difficulty of customs we can no longer offer direct mail order sales via Bandcamp to European fans but this album will be definitely available in Europe so the best way is to please order from your local record store.

Lots of love
Cranes xxx
https://www.facebook.com/cranes.music.official/
The holy city breathed like a dying man...

Ulrich

QuoteIn mid-2023, one of the UK's most beloved bands reactivated on social media, hinting at greater things to come. The band in question is Cranes, a legendary band formed by siblings Alison and Jim Shaw in Portsmouth, England in 1985.
...
Additionally, the band announced two shows, one in hometown Portsmouth and the other in the heart of London, both of which sold out immediately. Both shows were meant to celebrate the 30th anniversary of 1993's Forever, one of the band's most beloved recordings that also earned them a slot opening for The Cure's celebrated Wish tour, which alongside a single remix of "Jewel" remixed by Robert Smith himself, helped usher in a new legion of fans. These new gigs reunited the Shaws with original guitarist Mark Francombe as well as Paul Smith, who began recording with the band with 2001's Future Songs album. These shows were special occasions through and through, with fans (including myself) traveling far and wide to attend. While the band was originally unsure what would be in store next, they seem to have rekindled the spark and reclaimed their stake in today's robust scene. More live dates have been booked for 2024 in Leeds, London, Brussels, and Rotterdam...

We had the immense pleasure of speaking to vocalist, guitarist, and bassist Alison Shaw about all of this activity.

Will these upcoming shows still be part of the Forever anniversary celebration, or will you be doing a more varied set?

To be honest, we haven't decided yet! I think we might do more of a kind of a mixture, maybe a few songs from the Loved album, but we're not quite sure yet.

Right, and Mark played on Loved as well, yes? That first era of the band with Mark and Matt on guitar and Jim on drums had quite a groove going throughout the nineties. But then you changed lineups and your sound evolved from there...

Yeah, Mark actually first played with us in 1988, I think. And then he left in 1997/1998, soon after the Population Four album. We did a long American tour for almost every album we did up until that point, but I think the last time we were there was for Future Songs in 2002.

...

It was quite important for us not to sound like anyone else directly. We used to edit ourselves. Jim's kind of obsessed with the idea – if anything sounds remotely like someone else he'll get rid of it. We were fans of other people's music at the time of course, but it was a key thing in Cranes, to choose our own path...

Wings of Joy, Forever, and Loved were all recorded in the same studio in London, called Protocol Studios. It was the same studio where everyone at the time recorded, including The Sundays, or My Bloody Valentine, who were recording Loveless at the time. So many bands who were recording in the early nineties recorded there, and that place felt like our home, just off Holloway Road in North London.

The more electronic stuff that you you mentioned, that was our third phase, after the year 2000. The old version of Cranes had finished – we ceased to be around 1998. Mark left in 1997 and got married after we did that last tour in America, and we pretty much stopped for a good three years. We weren't sure what we were going to do or if we were going to record again. But then Jim and I just got together, I guess because we're brother and sister, it's hard to split up completely...  I had been living in London at that time and during that break at the at the end of the 90s, I'd been doing some other stuff. I had a couple of ideas for some songs and I came back down to Portsmouth one day, and Jim had couple of ideas for some songs. We basically just started to write and we felt that there was the basis for some new material, and that's when Future Songs started to come together.

Going back to the gigs you've been playing – once you were committed to doing the shows and were back in the rehearsal room, was the focus really just on the older material? Did you happen to do any writing, whether it was accidental or intentional?

To be honest, it was a lot of the focus was on the Forever songs, because quite early on, people asking if we were going to play the entire album. There are several songs on the album which we'd never played live before..

So, here's a more open ended question – do you have a favorite moment throughout all the years you've been together as a band?

Favorite moment? Well, I mean obviously the tour with The Cure was completely awesome for us. I remember especially on the American leg of that tour, I remember just being happy every day, like every moment of every day, driving from city to city and playing these incredible arenas and auditoriums and stadiums, even...

How did that come about – how were you first approached by the band?

Apparently, Robert, and Simon had heard the Wings of Joy album, and they liked it. We had an agent at the time, and I think that's how they approached us. We met them around that time, they did a few warm up shows before the tour, playing in much smaller venues in the UK. They played in our local town hall, which is called the Guild Hall in Portsmouth. We were invited to the show, and that's where we met the band and that's when they invited us on the tour.
Read more at:
https://post-punk.com/hopes-are-high-a-conversation-with-alison-shaw-of-cranes/
The holy city breathed like a dying man...