Tuesday, 1 March 2011
VISIT OUR *NEW* 'ONLINE SHOP'
Monday, 21 February 2011
EUROPEAN TOUR DIARY PART 3
Friday, 11 February 2011
EUROPEAN TOUR DIARY PART 2
Ladies and Gentlemen..
Been a few days since the last blog, it’s difficult to pick up the net for long enough on the road sometimes..
Our next gig since we left you, and the naked man last after Club Zwölfzehn, Stuttgart was at the Weekender Club, Innsbruck.
We had a day off before the gig in Innsbruck so we took a leisurely loaf around the old town and took in the beautiful scenery including the famous ski jump, which we sadly didn’t have time to have a go on ourselves..
Being abroad we decided to do the typical English thing and go for a curry that night.. (sorry Innsbruck) the curry was actually pretty good.. Later that evening we caught up on much needed sleep after an instalment of Jurassic Park and several bottles of ‘Easy Rider’ beer, because as it quotes on the bottle ‘life is tough enough’..
The night of the gig was great! The venue was full of students who came to watch us and dance the night away to Philip’s expert djing skills (of course we joined them til the early hours..) After the superb gig, we were invited to play an encore and finished the night off with ‘Subside’ to a great reception, then to join the party on the dance floor. Thanks to Erwin, Andy, Mike and the rest of the crew at the Weekender Club.
..Oh yeah, after flicking through the local magazine ‘Innsbruck Informiert’, backstage, we stumbled across a half page photograph and write up of ourselves.. but sadly we have not yet learnt to read German.. so hope it was good guys..!
After a seriously late night in Innsbruck, the next morn was a seriously early start to make it to our live session and interview with Austria’s FM4 radio. Post long drive, several coffees and a spot of medicinal hangover vomit we arrived fresh as a daisy to FM4’s head quarters. The live session went really well and we had a good chat and interview.. We recorded ‘Reflection’, ‘Subside’ and ‘First Hand’ acoustically.. Link to the interview coming soon.. stay tuned..! Big thanks to Susie, Eva, Florian and Willi who made our visit rather enjoyable indeed..
No sooner had we taken our headphones off in the live booth and finished our mediocre canteen baghettes (not complaining as they were gratis..!), we were back in the bus and on the road to Vienna’s Rhiz club.
Sat Nav’s are a fantastic invention and a sound investment, but sometimes they fail and you have to walk the streets.. alone.. searching for the venue and finally giving up flying solo, you take a deep breath and unsubtly slip into a rather suspect Viennese sex shop.. and leaving your dignity at the door.. you ask for directions to the venue.. Obviously, like in Britain’s comedy series ‘Bottom’, I was in said erotic emporium purely in interest of science…
For those unfamiliar with UK’s TV series 'Bottom'..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdNZJfOsG_4
Upon our arrival to Vienna’s, Rhiz club after several more embarrassing attempts at directions, we set up for sound check.. If you haven’t been, the Rhiz club is a little reminiscent of the Cavern Club in Liverpool, UK.. minus the Beatles of course.. The gig went real well, was real intimate and was good to see old friend and now local Vienna boy Rob.. The gig was actually filmed by one of the attendees..
Check out some of the live videos of the gig on you tube thanks to ‘frautralala’.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18F_BqgIcK4
Apart from the dodgy characters hanging around the toilets, we enjoyed our time at the Rhiz club and shared some of our thoughts on with Kat, from Frock’n’Roll..
Have a listen to the interview on SoundCloud..
http://soundcloud.com/frockandrollmag/red-drapes-interview
(note: recorded outside.. in the cold..)
That night we stayed in the biggest apartment I think we have ever seen.,. set in what seemed like Vienna’s ‘Vegas’ quarter, complete with a theme park.. which again, we had no time to have a go on.. Thanks to Stefy for letting us stay.. your flat has the largest shower that actually looks like a Roman Bath..
Falling asleep whilst driving and preparing yet another sandwich of rye brot and all the cheeses we were head banging in the tour bus to Bowie’s Sound and Vision on our way to Nürnberg’s, MUZclub.. We liked this venue lots.. backstage it’s like Grandma’s front room and the food is like her’s too..! Fantastic.. Thanks to everyone who came to this show, it was brilliant.. We played our full set and still were asked for an encore so Adam played a solo of ‘No Love Here’ (an unfinished song), which went down superbly.. We will be back Nürnberg.. we share the love..
Our next show is in Berlin, at Levee Club Friday 11th February and it’s the official E.p1 launch party.. come down and party with us.. we can’t wait to play ex Bang Bang Club again.. it’s been too long..
…also.. check out our blog in German on Motor.de.. complete with the Alan Partridge link..
http://www.motor.de/motorblog//red_drapes
P.s.. here is a picture of the naked Stuttgart man for your enjoyment..
Monday, 7 February 2011
EUROPEAN TOUR DIARY PART 1
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thomas & Red Drapes x
Friday, 14 January 2011
HEADLINE EUROPEAN TOUR & RELEASE PARTY
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| Click on the poster to enlarge. |
We are having a release show party on the night of 11.02.2011 at Levee (ex Bang Bang Club).
The same day we will be releasing our Ep.1 on Humming Records, distributed by Rough Trade. There will be 200 strictly limited edition copies and handmade by us for sale on the night, so come and get one before they sell out.
We very much look forward to playing, meeting people, so come out and party with us.
Monday, 6 December 2010
Red Drapes Live // LIDO Berlin 'Nov 2010' Karrera Klub from Red Drapes on Vimeo.
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
GERMAN TOUR DIARY NOVEMBER 2010
We have recently arrived back in old blighty after our first German tour supporting Humming Records label mates Flashguns. We had an amazing time and here's a little about our magical German mystery tour..
We set off from home in our shiny new hired bus and on to Dover to ride the under sea train to Calais..
First stop was Hazelwood Studios, Frankfurt. A beautiful warehouse building housing our makeshift beds in the office for the night.. amazing place as it was, but distinctly lacking in food stuffs so it was a quick dash back in the van to get to the Übermäßig Markt to pick up some smelly cheese and crusty bread before it closed.. not forgetting the fantastically cheap good German beer!.. then back to the studio, cheese and crisp sandwiches, beer, cards and indoor bicycle riding.
On the morn, after little sleep we set off to the first date in at Klub Drushba, Halle. Nice little venue reminiscent of our old haunt in Southampton 'Lennons'.. the place was rammed, our set went well and we had a great time.. we watched Flashguns from the Dj booth through the thick haze of cigarette smoke then one of us had to stop drinking to get our van back to where we were kipping for the night.. That night and the next morning was a bit of a blur of pet frogs, chat roulette piano man and bratwurst.
The countryside on the way to Lido, Berlin is beautiful.. the wind turbines silently dance on the hills as the sun goes down and our heads are full of anticipation for the biggest gig of the tour.. We pull in to the outskirts of Berlin excited, and some of us wearing burger king crowns..
Lido is a beautiful venue, an old cinema if you've never been, big stage and red drapes either side of the stage.. We had a fantastic time playing for Kerrera Klub's Interpol aftershow party that night, great crowd for both bands and it was great to exercise our sound at a bigger venue.. the night was a blast. After the gig, we jumped on the U-Bahn to the Interpol after party at Cookies as they were playing Tempodrom.. the party was crazy, it went on past 6am and was like the underground vampire disco scene in Blade.. but without Wesley Snipes.
Our day off the following morning in Berlin saw a leisurely stroll around the flea market at Mauerpark while our feet slowly turned numb and our hands developed frost bite.. That evening falafel, beer, table football and cigarettes.. still can't quite get used to people smoking indoors. Several large continental lagers and a little shopper bike later, it's 5am and we are outside Mega Grill.
The harsh light of day brought us back in the van to the Prinzenbar, Hamburg.. A quick stop off at Jörg's farm to pick up some diesel, meet the cows and drink the best damn coffee in Germany..! then we are weaving down country lanes and through quaint villages towards our final date of the tour. Prinzenbar is a pretty and romantic venue with different levels, red drapes and decorated with stone cherubs, chandeliers and grape vines.. some would say reminiscent of the Aztec zone of Crystal Maze..
Hamburg was a great night, our gig was really enjoyable and the night out drinking after was ace.. The road in the red light district where women aren't allowed was worth seeing and the bar after played some good tunes but the bloody mary shots weren't such a good idea.. back to the artist's flat above Prinzenbar for a private party of endless songs and banging of feet (sorry neighbour below)..
After a hilarious sleepless night and with awful hangovers, we begin our long drive back to the Eurotunnel frequenting roadside service delights along the way.. Fuck the Autobahn at night in the rain! It. Is. Crazy.
We knew our journey back would be somewhat lengthy, we did not however, anticipate a 5 hour long stay at the Eurotunnel terminal departure lounge in Calais, awaiting the release of our detained bass player in passport control.. sinking countless cheap, foul vending machine coffees in an effort to stay awake for the drive on home turf and deliriously transfixed by the crazy bubblegum machine in the children's area, we are eventually called up to the tunnel.. back as a four piece, we enter the undersea train once again.
6am, Asda carpark, Folkstone, -1 degrees, stolen sandwich, sick and a stray cat.. Home then sleep.
Thank you to Flashguns for having us, Colin, Jörg, Peter & Vivien at Humming Records for making it possible and Carsten at Hazelwood Touring for organising it all.
See you in February 2011 Germany.. x
Humming Records - Berlin
Monday, 18 October 2010
RESIDENCY DIARY PT.2
Part 2 of our monthly live residency at the Old Queens Head turned out to be a decedent evening Thursday 7th October. Thank you to everyone who made the night memorable.
We look forward to seeing everyone back for part 3 of the residency on Thursday November 4th.
Photography by Bryn Evans
www.befotography.com
Venue
Club.The.Mammoth & Red Drapes presents 'Residency'
Monday, 27 September 2010
LONDON RESIDENCY PART TWO '7TH OCT'
Dear all,
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Live
Monday, 6 September 2010
RESIDENCY DIARY PT.1
Dear all,
Thanks to all who came to the launch party of our live residency at The Old Queens Head, Angel. It was a great opening and we enjoyed it very much.
We were warmly received and there was a really interesting atmosphere to the whole night. We then got on the decks and spun songs and danced around until the early hours, thus making our heads roll a bit. A joyous occasion was had by all. The very talented Lasse Dearman photographed the night, which you can see below. Click to enlarge.
We are very much looking forward to the next residency show which is on the Thursday 7th October.
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| Photograph by Lasse Dearman |
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| Photograph by Lasse Dearman |
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| Photograph by Lasse Dearman |
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| Photograph by Lasse Dearman |
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| Photograph by Lasse Dearman |
Come join us again then, spread the word. Lots more to be announced and details will follow very shortly.
Special thanks to Ed & Dan from Club.The.Mammoth & the bands King Antics, The Rifle Volunteer and the amazing Stricken City.
Photography by Lasse Dearman
http://www.lassedearman.dk/
Club.The.Mammoth & Red Drapes presents 'Residency'
http://www.myspace.com/reddrapes
http://www.clubthemammoth.com/
http://www.myspace.com/clubthemammoth
http://www.facebook.com/clubthemammoth
Love
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
LONDON RESIDENCY LAUNCH PARTY '2ND SEP'
Dear all,
'C.T.M & Red Drapes presents..'w / Stricken City
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Live
http://www.myspace.com/reddrapes
http://www.clubthemammoth.com/
http://www.myspace.com/clubthemammoth
http://www.facebook.com/clubthemammoth
Love
Monday, 9 August 2010
EP.1 EUROPEAN RELEASE
Ladies & Gents...
We are proud to announce that Red Drapes are now signed to Humming Records, Berlin!
We will be releasing 'E.p 1' and touring Germany, Switzerland & Austria in the coming months.. Also support dates with Flashguns are to be announced soon...
Thank you to Colin, Peter & Jörg from Humming Records, Laurie Latham Jnr from Hot Sushi Productions, Laurie Latham for all of his hard work producing and engineering and to all our friends and family for their support over the last year..
Stay tuned.. new songs coming soon...
Humming Records - Berlin
www.hummingrecords.com
Hot Sushi Productions
www.hotsushi.co.uk
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
BBC 6 MUSIC INTERVIEW WITH TOM ROBINSON
Dear all,
Tom Robinson of BBC 6 Music has kindly been playing 'Reflection' for the past few weeks on his show 'Fresh On The Net'.
We were invited in to the 6 Music studio last week to face the 'Inquisition' and a chat. In short, a number of questions prompting a quick response from us and we did our best under these pressures to deliver some witty remarks. After that Tom himself chatted with us about our recent sold out release of E.p 1.
You can listen back to us being interview by Tom via our soundcloud below. Simply follow the link and hope you enjoy.
Red Drapes BBC 6 Music Interview with Tom Robinson 'Fresh On The Net' by RED DRAPES
We were suitably pleased with our complimentary Terry Wogan postcards and BBC visitors badge, which we hope will be one of many.
6 Music is very important to new bands and it simply has to stay. We are very pleased to be a part of it.
Sunday, 4 July 2010
JAPAN
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are proud to announce that our limited edition first release 'E.p.1' was shipped directly to File Under Records store, Nagoya City, Japan where it sold out in just 4 hours!!
Thank you to all in Japan who purchased our first record and posed for a picture, we are looking forward to releasing our new recordings and would love to play a Japanese show soon.
& a big thank you to Take for making it possible!
File Under Records - Japan
www.fileunderrecords.com
Knew Noise Recordings - Japan
Monday, 31 May 2010
MORE KIND WORDS...
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We have had some more nice words written about us of late. We would like to thank everyone for taking the time to write such pleasantries.
Click on the links below to read more...
This Is Offset - E.p.1
http://thisisoffset.co.uk/?s=red+drapes
The Dumbing Of America - Blog and Interview
http://thedumbingofamerica.net/2010/05/17/your-new-favorite-band-red-drapes/
Hot Sushi
http://hotsushi.co.uk/reddrapes.html
Sublime Silence - Blog
http://sublimesilencemusic.blogspot.com/2010/05/red-drapes.html
R.D
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
E.P 1. 'FREE 2 TRACK DOWNLOAD SAMPLER'
Friday, 23 April 2010
E.P 1
We have recently designed a handmade limited edition Ep which we have titled Ep.1 limited to 100 copies. They are handmade by us and are available from Rough Trade stores now.
Enclosed is 5 track cd and booklet of the full lyrics to each of the songs. We plan to make another edition titled Ep.2 late summer which will also be limited and handmade.
Rough Trade Website
Click here to order E.p 1 from Rough Trade Website
Rough Trade East
Old Truman Brewery,
Brick Lane, London.
Rough Trade West
130 Talbot Road, London
We hope you enjoy.
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
BERLIN
Dear all,
Apologies for a slightly delayed post. We have been very busy but have gathered together some thoughts and photographs from our recent visit to Berlin to play a headline slot at the renowned venue Bang Bang Club. This was Red Drapes first visit to play Germany and was made to be very special.
It all began with a lengthy coach journey which took us through many cities upon the way, passing beautiful streets and land that adorns Europe. Arriving in Berlin quite sleep deprived we made our way to the place where we were staying and an afternoon sleep was had. The flat we stayed in could not be more perfect, a traditional pre-war loft apartment that we could describe as being very poetic and felt highly nostalgic. A place such as this very much suited our moods for the duration of the short visit.
We arrived at sound check to be met by people outside who had been waiting, which astounded us, but a great surprise which we welcomed. To receive such a welcome was very unexpected and for our first visit to Germany can only make for great things to come. The best part of all was the decor, playing in front of some beautiful red drapes made us feel very comfortable and that it was all very much meant to be. The show itself was fantastic and showcasing the songs and our sound to the people of Berlin and Germany will remain to be a fond memory. We had some limited edition handmade ep's for sale on the night, which everyone will hear about very soon as we had only just finished making them. We shall write a further blog containing all the details about the ep's and how they can be purchased. After the show we spent the evening drinking the finest German beer which is extremely hard to beat. I must say it has been hard coming back to what is on offer here.
The feeling of being in Berlin is one of complete freedom to choose to do what you so desire. With that in mind we hope to travel back over very soon. From the response we had, Germany and Europe seems to be a place where we and our songs are very welcome. It was really nice to meet some lovely people at the show and thank them for their kind words.
Berlin you are a beautiful city and we will be back very soon.





































