After months of planning and thinking, I'm finally in the throws of making Honour Before Glory a fully fledged band. I don't want to mislead, the crux of my music making will still be myself developing songs in a studio, but the ability to recreate these songs live was always an ambition of some sort.
Joining me wil be collaborators from the studio, like Simon Fogal (from I Like Trains), as well as some friends from previous lives. I'll post some updates on how we're going but initial steps are going very well.
For those expecting a return to touring and gigging akin to that in Forward, Russia, they would be very much mistaken. Because the band exists doesn't mean we'll be playing out all the time. It's for the special occasion, to be cherished when it occurs. We only have plans to play a handful of shows by the end of the year, if that
But I've waffled too much. We're playing our first gig in March - it's free - and here are the details:
FRIDAY 12th MARCH
Honour Before Glory + Fran Rodgers + Yanni Montoya
Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
7.30pm Doors / Free Entry
HONOUR BEFORE GLORY (¡Forward, Russia! / I Like Trains / Duels / Shut Your Eyes & You'll Burst Into Flames / Fran Rodgers / Normal Man and more)
Honour Before Glory is the solo project of whiskas (¡Forward, Russia! / Dance To The Radio), the extension and fulfillment of songs that were written throughout his time in Forward Russia and beyond. After numerous false starts, Autumn 2009 saw the songs finally brought to life in the studio with the help from numerous friends (Simon & Dave from I Like Trains, Jon Duels, Fran ex-Shut Your Eyes.. and Fran Rodgers), and then released unto the world.
Growing interest in the songs and the project sparked whiskas to strip the songs back to their orginal form, playing a number of solo shows with Sunset Rubdown, Damien Jurado, as well as a tour in Germany. With an expanding repertoire and sonic ambition, 2010 sees new friends and old join whiskas for what will be the fully blown technicolour live experience. Gigs will be a rare and special event, so catch it when you can
"a great, naturally tentative and atmospheric piece of work. It’s like Bernard Sumner without the baggage or New Order’s Other Two, but with flowers in their hair." - Steve Lamacq, Going Deaf For A Living
"[Honour Before Glory] vibrates and reverberates with fractured atmospherics digital and otherwise, at the core of which lies heartfelt, wracked songwriting that glows even as everything around it lifts into the stratosphere. M83 would be the closest reference point, but without the recently overbearing nostalgia angle or so much deference to MBVisms. Maybe Ride after a course of Spencer Krug records would be more accurate, so that you can't help feeling that were he from Toronto rather than Leeds Whiskas would have been corralled into Broken Social Scene long before now" -Sweeping The Nation
Download Broken Bottles, Empty Hearts and watch Lions solo in Germany here:
http://honourbeforeglory.com
FRAN RODGERS
Born in 1982 to an English father and a French mother, Fran Rodgers was raised with her twin sister in an old mining town in Nottinghamshire. Hours spent listening to her parents’ records inspired a love of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and, later, the likes of Nick Drake, Nick Cave and Jeff Buckley. Following a move to Leeds in 2000 Fran discovered a passion for singing and, self-taught on the guitar, she began to write. Performing alone or with a little help from good friends Bruce Renshaw, Lins Wilson and Jim & Jon Foulger, she transports the listener into the fragile world she paints of love, loss and hope. She's a folk chanteuse basically
http://www.franrodgers.co.uk
YANNI MONTOYA (¡Forward, Russia / You Slut / Bella Cohen)
The true Forward, Russia legacy may be more prevalent in this Nottingham outfit. Since Forward, Russia's hiatus, Katie Russia has moved to Nottingham, DJing at local clubs and creating mind blowing artistic creations those familar with the FR merch stands will not be suprised by. Teaming up with friends and local scenesters, including members of You Slut and Bella Cohen, Yanni Montoya played their first gig in January supporting Future Of The Left. Reports are, they were awesome.
http://yannimontoya.blogspot.com
Soundtrack to this post: Wild Beasts, PJ Harvery & John Parish
