OCTOBER 2012
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Thank you so much to all those that attended our Album Launches on the weekend.
It was very much appreciated and we had a sensational time and managed to get rid of a heap of albums. So:
'Lantern Slides' by Sir Thomas is now available from:
If you live in Perth:
- Planet Video (Beaufort Street)
- Mills (Adelaide Street, Fremantle)
- 78's (Murray Street Mall)
- Dadas (Pier Street)
- Fat Shan's (Barrack Street)
If you live in country WA you can pick up your copy from;
- No90 Gallery & Music (90 Fitzgerald Street, Northam)
The album is also available digitally from:
- CdBaby = http://cdbaby.com/cd/sirthomas
- Amazon = www.amazon.com
- iTunes
- Bandcamp = sirthomas.bandcamp.com (Coming very soon)
If you live overseas or too far from Perth or Northam you can order a copy of the album directly from:
- kbyfield@westnet.com.au
- http://cdbaby.com/cd/sirthomas
- sirthomas.bandcamp.com (coming very soon)
Anything else feel free to send me an email through the website and I will solve any problems ASAP.
PLEASE ENJOY!!!
Kitt Byfield & Sir Thomas
ALBUM LAUNCH No.1 (PERTH)
Friday 26 October 2012
8:00 PM
The Bakery, Northbridge
Supported by Beside Lights, Lilt and Vive
Tickets: $25
Tickets available from www.nowbaking.com.au and at the door
ALBUM LAUNCH No.2 (REGIONAL)
Saturday 27 October 2012
7:00 PM
Grass Valley Hall (110 km ENE of Perth)
Tickets: $20
Tickets available from No 90 Gallery & Music 96211669 and at the door
Supported by Rhys Wood, FielTrip and Lauren Arthur
SEPTEMBER 2012
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* Kitt performing solo at the annual 'Farm Festival'.
I will be playing my brand new song 'Favourite Waste of Time' and a few covers. Let's say maybe '1979' by the Smashing Pumpkins (in a bossanova style) with some local legends. Plus I may do some solo piano vocal ballads of 'Mr Brightside' by the Killers, 'I will Follow You into the Dark' by Death Cab for Cutie and maybe 'Dance the Way I Feel' by Ou est Swimming Pool. Should be a great afternoon of music.
* The ARTWORK has been completed.
It looks sensational. Just what we wanted. The True Fans photos look great. Some very interesting snaps in that lot. So now all we need to do is send the artwork and the production master to DISKBANK to be printed. We are nearly there!!
AUGUST 2012
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* Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife Bree and my son Parker.
* The album has now been MASTERED.
It sounds incredible. Very excited. Thank you very much King Willy. Next step is the getting the artwork finalized.
JULY 2012
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* The FINAL MIX for the album has been completed.
The album has been now sent over east to be mastered by King Willy. Thank you Noah for all your hard work and mixing genius.
JUNE 2012
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* Kitt performed LIVE on radio to support 'Give Five for Kids'
MAY 2012
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* Artwork Meeting
We all met to brain storm ideas for the album artwork, song order and title. We also looked at the different options on how the '100 True Fans' could be best represented on the album artwork.
* Kitt performed solo at the Grass Valley Lounge Cabaret 'Home Grown' (Grass Valley Hall)
I decided to just play some covers this year and I put together some solo piano / vocal versions of Goyte's Hearts a Mess (including crowd singing), Karma Police by Radiohead, Something by George Harrison, Four Walls by Cold Chisel (can't play in the country without some Barnesy), A Day in the Life by The Beatles, and everyone got their candles and lighters out for Into my Arms by Nick Cave. It was a great night, the night included the one and only Les and the Marfields, local legends Gerard Sermon and Peter Byfield, Lauren Arthur, Doris, Rum Jungle and the barbershop quartet Second Wind.
APRIL 2012
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* Mixing Session 2 - The Lolly Box (Margaret River)
I took the family down south for the final mixing session. Noah allowed us to stay in the lovely cottage overlooking the tennis court. It only took roughly a day and a half of flat out mixing but it definitely was worth it. Thanks to Noah, Bec and the kids for allowing my family to stay, we had a lovely relaxing time. Four year old Felix's 'Circus Magircus' was definitely one of the highlights.
MARCH 2012
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* Sir Thomas performs at 'Concerts in the Park' (Northam)
Sir Thomas performed in Bernard Park at 'Northam Concerts in the Park' series. Beautifully supported by Joe Black Trio it was a lovely night had by all. Although most of Kitt's time was spent running after his 1 year old son Parker, as he kept racing off to the jumping castle. Parker really seemed to enjoy getting bounced around, not being able to get up and continually getting trodden on by the masses of bigger kids.
FEBRUARY 2012
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* Mixing Session 1 - The Lolly Box (Margaret River)
We headed down for the last time together on the Friday night inorder to begin the mixing process. Looking at exciting things like EQ, compression, reverb, panning, balance; plus the addition of any extra keys parts or percussion that was needed. The guys had to head off Sunday morning but i decided to stay to get it done with Noah. Noah and myself ending up finishing at 10PM that night. I arrived back home in the hills at 3:30AM, ready to start work soon after. The trip back home was also made interesting by the fact that I nearly ran out of fuel on the way home (no 24 hour fuel stations from Margaret River all the way to Bunbury). The things we do for our art.
JANUARY 2012
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* Recording Week 2 - The Lolly Box (Margaret River)
Due to recording most of the piano, keys, bass and drum tracks in the first week; Week 2 was mainly focused on laying down and editing a good lead vocal and editing a good lead vocal. We also added additional keys parts from Chris and many exciting percussion parts including some Moroccan castanets, a hi hat placed on a crash for an awful old sounding crash cymbal and even a homemade 'gravy tin' shaker. We also added all the harmonies, including even a few group singalongs.
* Production / Recording Week 1 - The Lolly Box (Margaret River)
Our first week down south at producer Noah Shilkin's private studio saw most of our time assigned to the production of the tunes. With structures and the arrangements being the main focus we were surprised when we actually had the time to lay down the bass, drums, piano and keys, plus even a guide vocal track for all of the songs. I was great to have something to go away with.
SEPTEMBER and OCTOBER 2011
WOW - right now we are left wondering where the last two months have gone! We have had a crazy busy time but there have been some great things happening for Sir Thomas!
After some to and fro with bass players this year we are so excited to announce that Mel Hall has returned to Sir Thomas after taking a year off from the band to travel, write and record her solo songs (she was nominated for a WAM Song of the Year Award!!) and to spend lots more time writing, another of Mel's passions! We have already done a few gigs with Mel and are rehearsing all of the songs for the True Fans gig in November...more to come!
We have had an amazing ongoing response to this project and we have now hit 70 paid True Fans! This dream is most definitely becoming a reality and we can't wait for the Song Choice Gig at the Ellington in two weeks! We will be sending a special announcement out to our True Fans in the next day or two, as well as your ticket for the gig! There are still places available if you would like to support Sir Thomas to record our debut album, please contact us through this website!
Sir Thomas is officially on TV! We performed two songs live for a fantastic, locally produced TV show called On The Couch in September which aired on Friday 30 September on the Aurora channel on Foxtel. You can watch us play Here It Comes on The Couch's YouTube channel:
www.youtube.com/user/TheCouchTV
Sir Thomas played at the annual Grass Valley Farm Day for the second time in three years on Sunday 25 September. This event is very special for us as it not only raises money for charities in the Shire of Northam but it is where both Kitt and Mel were born and raised!
- What Else have Sir Thomas been doing?
Kitt and Cal both played in the opening event for the 2011 Commonwealth Festival in a piece written for 250 percussionists by Australian legend, Graeme Leak.
Cal premiered a new work written for him by
Chris called The Fourth Step for vibraphone, tape and narration! Cal also recorded some other new works by composers
Mace Francis and
Alice Humphries with trumpeter Callum G'Froerer for the ABC.
Mel Hall was nominated for a WA Music Industry Song of the Year Award in the Love category, Mel and Cal attended the star studded awards night at the Fly by Night club in Fremantle.
AUGUST 2011
100 True Fans 'song-choosing gig' date announced!
It's official! The date has been booked for the gig where our fans get to have an input into what songs we record on our debut album!
Date: Sunday 13 November 2011
Time: 3.00pm (doors at 2.30pm)
Venue:
The Ellington Jazz Club, Beaufort St, Northbridge
Entry: Free as part of your 100 True Fans payment!
There will be a photographer at the gig to get your lovely face on our artwork!
How do I get involved? If you are not yet one of our 100 True Fans and would like to become one please get in touch for more details - and you can come to this gig and have your say on what we play! Plus, you get your name and photo as part of the album artwork and a copy of the finished product!
Here is a shot of us rocking out the Ellington earlier this year to whet your appetites for November!
100 True Fans - UPDATE
We have officially hit the 30 True Fans mark! Thanks to everyone who has supported us! If you have pledged to get involved in this project you can pay your money at any time, please see the Thank You letter for payment details or just get in touch with one of us!
It's been a while since we have posted any news but we have been working like crazy behind the scenes! Chris has been on his honeymoon, we have launched the 100 True Fans project and we have been rehearsing with our new bass player! More info below!!
There isn't really much more to say about this...Chris married the lovely Alice in Kings Park at the end of May. It was a beautiful ceremony and a great reception that night! I'll leave the particulars of their honeymoon to them! ;)
We have been contacting our nearest and dearest fans to take part on the 100 True Fans project to assist in funding our debut album recording with the most awesome producer, Noah Shilkin from Margaret River.These fans will get to be involved in choosing the songs that make it onto our album at a gig on Sunday 13 November at the Ellington Jazz Club. If you would like to know more please get in touch through the 'contact us' tab or on Facebook or Twitter!
The lovely and amazing Djuna Lee was only with us for a short time but it was a pleasure and a priviledge to play with such a phenomenal player! Djuna is heading off to Tokyo and New York later this year and was unable to continue playing in the band. We wish her the best for her travels and can't wait to hear about all the brilliant things she will achieve in the future! Thanks for your love and support Djuna, and for putting up with three dudes on tour!
We have been rehearsing with Terry Matheson, raising the New Zealand content of the band to 50%! Terry will be playing with us for our next gigs in September! Stay tuned for more details about these gigs!
APRIL 2011
Sir Thomas has been busy writing a new song to be featured in Australian independent filmmaker Sam Barrett's latest feature film
Sororal (it's all a little top secret at this stage).
We aim to record it for the film by the end of October and feature it on our upcoming album. Watch this space!!!
Learn more about
Sororal and Sam Barrett
here.
MARCH 2011
Spaceship News preview of our upcoming show at the Ellington can be found
here.
After playing several sold out shows in Adelaide with saxophonist and looping master Adam Page we are pleased to be performing alongside Adam once again.
Sir Thomas and Adam Page will be playing at the Ellington on Monday the 4th of April 2011, 7:30PM.
Make sure you catch Adam before he leaves to live in NZ for a while!
More info on the
Ellington website
