Fancy a new job, Geb? ;-)

I found this lovingly & carefully hand-drawn flyer attached to a street lamp's pylon on Wrangelstrasse in Berlin's S036 neighbourhood (Kreuzberg) last spring roughly around the time Geb quit Motorpsycho. The text reads:

"Grateful Dead, Country Joe & the Fish, Allman Brothers Band, Crosby, Stills & Nash. Woodie Guthrie, Billy Bragg, Incredible String Band, The Violent Femmes, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash...If you like some of these bands and if you play the banjo or the drumkit or the mandoline or the vocals or the guitar and if you are looking for a folk-bluegrass-country-project and if you like to play on the streets or busking in the park...then call Frank 420 81959!".

I fell in love with it (and the musical idea behind it) immidiately & couldn't resist picking it up (there were more) & putting it online here. I am sure Frank could use some of Geb's rich Tussler/HGH/Cream Of The Crop-experiences in this genre. ;-)

Needless to say that I very much hope that Frank manages to put together this project because this could very well become my (new) favourite local band. I just need to stumble across them "playing on the streets or busking in the park".

New album news

From Stickman Records via g35:

"Here's wishing all of you a happy holiday. I have some information for you - let's call it a Christmas present from Motorpsycho and Stickman:

The upcoming Motorpsycho album will be a double-CD / double-LP. It's title: Black Hole/Blank Canvas. It will be released on 17.03 OR 20.03 - depending on whether your country has Monday or Friday release dates (every country is different) [...]."

Merry x-mas indeed to all friends, readers & Motorpsycho fans!

German tickets

Tickets for the shows in Germany went on sale yesterday. Powerline has links to on-line ticket vendors for all shows. They cost slightly below 20 Euro.

I got one of those babies as a birthday gift yesterday (thanks to Jette & Ingo). God, it feels so good to see that name on a ticket again!

Rockefeller 30.04.2000 on Dime

Though Motorpsycho have voiced their disapproval of online-trading of their shows, every now & then a torrent is being seeded on Dimeadozen. Currently there is a torrent for the Cake-Tour-Finale at Oslo's Rockefeller 30.04.2000. This is supposed to be a radio recording (of unknown origin & lineage). You will have to register with Dime to be able to download the recording.
(thanks to Björn, via Motortrades).

There were Cake Tour shows which were more far out & magic but if you are looking for a good representation of Motorpsycho's "LTEC"-era sound in superior sound-quality this is the recording to get. It's the only complete radio recording of a show from that tour. The setlist is well balanced between pop & jam numbers, leaning slightly towards the hits. Highlights include a dreamy "Blueberry daydream" (says Bent: "We are Crosby, Stills, Nash & Bård."), a floating "SWS III", a psychedelic rendition of "All is loneliness", juicy takes on "Walking with J", "Black to comm" & "Hogwash" as well as "Golden core" to cap off the main set.

Btw, there are two HGH torrents on Dime too: Freiburg 2003 & 2005.

Paradiso tickets on sale 24.12.2005

Tickets for the show in Amsterdam at Paradiso on May 03, 2006 will go on sale x-mas eve! See the Paradiso site (click on "more" in the upper right corner & scroll down). Again they will be available through Ticketmaster.nl.
(thanks to Rune at The UnOffs Forums)

Stickman confirms tour dates!

Stickman Records has confirmed the majority of the dates, see the tour section at their website. All previously known German, Dutch, Swiss & Italian dates are now official. Also a show at Brussels' Botanique on May 07, 2006 has been added. The show in Biel, CH has been moved to May 09, 2006 (previously expected to be May 11, 2006).

Here is the updated schedule.

In a post to g35 Stickfrau adds: "The norwegian dates will follow soon. Please keep in mind that the soccer world championships are making early summer 2006 a tough time to tour. So this tour will be fairly short but there will be more coming in the fall."

All of this makes for some early X-mas rejoycing I might add.

Updated schedule

Visit the MotorpsychoNews main page by clicking here!

Here is a constantly updated tour schedule. For newly added dates, setlists reporting, concert reviews etc. etc. keep checking back to the main page (yellow link above).



April 22 - Trondheim, NOR @ Studentersamfundet
April 23 - (day off)
April 24 - Trondheim, NOR @ Studentersamfundet
April 25 - Hamar, NOR @ Hydranten
April 26 - Oslo, NOR @ Rockefeller

April 27 - Halden, NOR @ Samfundet
April 28 - (day off)
April 29 - Copenhagen, DK @ The Rock
April 30 - Rostock, GER @ Mau Club
May 01 - Berlin, GER @ Postbahnhof
May 02 - Hamburg, GER @ Fabrik
May 03 - Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
May 04 - Eindhoven, NL @ De Effenaar
May 05 - Münster, GER @ Skater's Palace
May 06 - (day off)
May 07 - Brussels, BE @ Cirque Royal (seated, or not?)
May 08 - Köln, GER @ Live Music Hall
May 09 - Biel, CH @ Coupole
May 10 - Milano, IT @ Rolling Stone
May 11 - Rimini, IT @ Velvet
May 12 - Treviso, IT @ New Age
May 13 - (day off)
May 14 - Darmstadt, GER @ Centralstation

Check out the setlists!

To see summer-dates go to the summer-tour 2006 post.
The band also plans to play a fall tour.

Line up:
Jacco van Rooij on drums, Øyvind Brandtsegg on vibraphone & bodysynch.

Tickets:
Germany
Italy
Holland
Belgium
Norway
Denmark
Switzerland

[I will keep updating this post instead of posting the schedule anew every time new information emerges. You can find a direct link to this post in the sidebar.]

German dates confirmed!

Motorpsycho's German booker Powerline has just confirmed following shows:

May 01 - Berlin @ Postbahnhof
May 02 - Hamburg @ Fabrik
May 05 - Münster @ Skater's Palace
May 08 - Köln @ Live Music Hall
May 14 - Darmstadt @ Centralstation
(thanks to Stickfrau, via g35).

I will post an updated schedule later on.

Three Italian dates

According to Kalporz.com Motorpsycho will play following dates in Italy:

May 10 - Milano @ Rolling Stone
May 11 - Rimini @ Velvet
May 12 - Roncade (Treviso) @ New Age.
(via g35, thanks to Mazzone)

The Milano date appears to be newer news. As mentioned earlier the Rimini date conflicts with the date for the show in Biel.

Tickets for the Italian shows will be available through Ticketone.it.

FNR tickets on sale 21.12.2005

Tickets for the Eindhoven show at De Effenaar on May 04, 2006 will go on sale Wednesday, December 21, 2005. They will cost 17,50 EUR (+fees?). It's possible to buy them online through Ticketmaster.nl though I don't know how or if they'll process orders from abroad.

Thanks to Jonne for the heads-up!

True underground

Motorpsycho have been playing the same venues all over Europe again & again, for more than ten years now. Some venues (like Eindhoven's Effenaar) saw more than ten Motorpsycho shows this way, some had Motorpsycho on their stages for several consecutive years. As a friend of mine put it in an e-mail: "That is true underground". And sure enough the band is already semi-confirmed for some classic venues like Effenaar or Velvet in spring 2006.

Here is a number of links to some familiar venues the band has played in the past as well as to a couple of others which they might perform during the next tour (in random order, without Norway for now):

Copenhagen's Loppen, Copenhagen's Vega, Copenhagen's The Rock, Bremen's Schlachthof, Hamburg's Docks, Hamburg's Knust, Hamburg's Logo, Hamburg's Grosse Freiheit 36, Forum Bielefeld, Bielefeld's Kamp, Hannover's Faust, Hannover's Capitol, Groningen's Vera, Utrecht's Tivoli, Tilburg's 013, Rotterdam's Nighttown, Brussels' Ancienne Belgique, Köln's Live Music Hall, Mannheim's Capitol, Darmstadt's Centralstation, München's Backstage, München's Feierwerk, Strasbourg's La Laiterie, Arena Wien, Zürich's Rote Fabrik, Feldkirch's Poolbar, Kulturfabrik Esch, Gothenburg's Sticky Fingers, Cortemaggiore's Fillmore, Trezzo d'Adda's Live Club, Kiel's Pumpe, Hamburg's Fabrik, Zollhaus Leer, Leipzig's Conne Island, Dresden's Starclub, Brussels' Botanique, Copenhagen's Stengade 30, Berlin's Kesselhaus, Berlin's (new) Postbahnhof, Berlin's SO36, Reutlingen's Zelle, Den Haag's Pard, Düsseldorf's Zakk, Stockholm's Debaser, Brugge's Cactus Club, Haarlem's Patronaat, Gothenburg's Pustervik, Geneve's L'usine, Mezzago's Bloom, Hamburg's Markthalle, Aschaffenburg's Colos Saal, Übach-Palenberg's Rockfabrik, Paris' Nouveau Casino.

It's probably only a matter of time until Motorpsycho dates will be added to the clubs' programmes. Many of them have already updated their concert calenders until June 2006 & later. Click away!

Personally I'd love if they played the very cool Fabrik in Hamburg & the edgy SO36 in Berlin (Tussler had worked just so well at those). A date in Berlin seems unlikely at this point though. Here's also hope for a performance at the legendary Schlachthof in Bremen.

Paradiso!

Dutch organiser Mojo Concerts has confirmed Amsterdam (@ Paradiso) on May 03 & the already known Eindhoven (@ De Effenaar) date on May 04 on their website: Agenda Clubcircuit.
(thanks to Martijn76 @ The UnOff's Forum)

Previous shows at the Paradiso have been fan favourites: in 2002 the band performed there twice, once in April, once in November. The latter was webcast live by Fabchannel, the stream is still available here. The footage was rumoured to see the light of day as a bonus DVD to "Roadworks III" but unfortunately nothing did materialize.

Motorpsycho did not play at the Effenaar since April 2000.

Tour dates shaping up

Here is a (very) tentative schedule for Motorpsycho's European Tour in spring 2006. It has been compiled by announcements on venue websites as well as from rumours. The dates in brackets are my guesses.

April 27 - Halden, NOR
April 28 - (Gothenburg)
April 29 - Copenhagen, DK
April 30 - (Germany)
May 01 - (Germany)
May 02 - (day off)
May 03 - (Germany or Holland)
May 04 - Eindhoven, NL @ FNR, FNR website
May 05 - (Holland)
May 06 - (Holland)
May 07 - (Belgium)
May 08 - (day off)
May 09 - (Germany)
May 10 - (Switzerland)
May 11 - Biel, CH @ Coupole or Rimini, IT @ Velvet,
Coupole website / Velvet website
May 12 - Treviso, IT @ New Age Club, New Age Club website
May 13 - (Italy)
May 14 - (Italy)

There is also a rumour about a show at Münster's Skater's Palace, a shabby skater joint in the middle of the german nowhere. It's a venue the band hasn't played yet & I am sure this will make for a great show right out there on the edge. The allleged date is "sometime in May", which makes a date within the first week of May rather feasible (see above schedule). Also it seems pretty plausible they'll definitely play both - Biel & Rimini - though apparently it has not been decided yet on which dates. Another rumour has it that negotiations are currently underway for a hometown show in March.

Discuss away!