Dear all
It has been quite a year for us Drapes. We started 2009 freezing our arses off in a derelict pub squat in Camberwell, London writing and rehearsing our first songs. It was in this dilapidated Victorian public house that we created the melancholic, thoughtful sound of Red Drapes. In March we recorded our first demos ‘Reflection’, ‘Hush Now The Dockyard’ and ‘Dirty Windows’. They were recorded at Helicon Studios, Greenwich, London and produced by Laurie Latham.
During late spring/early summer we booked our first live show together. We supported The Boxer Rebellion at Southampton Joiners on 15th May 2009. Since then, we have continued to play regular live shows at several great venues in London and South England. Over the year we have supported O. Children on their ‘Dead Disco Dancer’ single launch, played with White Rose Movement at ‘Queen Of Hoxton’, been on a bill with The Chapman Family at ‘The Watershed’ for John Kennedy’s XFM night and headlined 93 Feet East… to name but a few highlights for us.
The move to our new rehearsal space in South London came after we were turfed out of our beloved old pub in late summer. But the move to our beautiful ‘Red Room’ rehearsal space has helped us hone our sound as well as write some important new songs like ‘Suffer In Silence’ and ‘Slow Dance’. As well as a great comment from Artrocker magazine featured as their ‘favourite new band’ which we have blogged about earlier, XFM’s John Kennedy gave us a fantastic write up in January’s edition of Dazed & Confused magazine entitled 'John Kennedy looks to 2010 for Inspiration'. (Read the full article in blog below…)
After playing the XFM night on 6th Nov at The Watershed, John Kennedy has been playing 'Reflection' on his radio show ‘X-posure’, and has expressed his liking of us. It is wonderful to have his support and very kind words. Also this year, we have had a great photo shoot with photographer Dan Wilton (we will be posting up another photograph from that shoot soon!) and ‘Reflection’ is featured in Artrocker’s ‘Top 100 Records Of 2009’, which is great for our first demo!
So looking to 2010, we have new songs to play, there will be plenty of writing, rehearsing and gigging and we will be going back into the studio to record some more demos, of which will be available on an E.P later in the year but more about that another time... Finally, we are currently in the middle of organizing a small German tour in March, with the possibility of other European dates, which we are all very much looking forward to!
All in all, it’s been a busy 2009 for us, we have come a long way from the damp, peeling walls of our first home in London... Before we go, here is a photo from a gig we had in Brighton at ‘Jam’ late November. Twas a cold, windy old night by the sea, but I feel our mood was well captured under the dark red lights of the club…
Thank you all very dearly for your support this year, and Happy New Year…
R.D
Thomas
Posts
