MP3s from The Crimea’s session on XFM’s Music Response last Wednesday are now up on the downloads page. All but the most dedicated fans will want to forgo the intro and possibly the interviews too where Davey talks about the band’s first album, record deal, US tour and the new album’s recording and release. But you should all get the three songs recorded at the XFM studios just before the session was broadcast, if only because they’ll probably be removed from the site pretty soon.
Archive for the ‘Radio / TV’ Category
The Crimea will be performing live in session on XFM’s Music: Response show with Steve Harris later today. They’ll be on any time between 7pm and 10pm, and you can tune in thorugh DAB Digital Radio, NTL Virgin or Sky TV, 104.9 FM in London and online at www.xfm.co.uk (or just open this link in any media player). Hopefully I’ll get it recorded and possibly stick MP3s up somewhere so long as my internet connection can handle the stream.
As Colin Murray continues his Crimea support by playing a Crimea track on every. single. show. of his on Radio 1 this week. Seriously, check out the tracklistings or listen again, it’s quite a sight. I’m starting to wonder if he’s a bigger fan that I am. Anyway, here’s a few of the radio DJs that The Crimea want you to bug and request Crimea tracks from. The more the merrier, but start with long time fan Zane Lowe (seen right all buddy buddy with Davey & Owen at a radio awards do).
Zane Lowe (Radio 1)- BBC Contact Page (select Contact DJ then DJ’s name).
Bethan & Huw (Radio 1 Wales) - BBC Contact Page (as above).
Gideon Coe (6 Music) - gideon.6music@bbc.co.uk
Jonathan Ross (Radio 2) - jonathan.ross@bbc.co.uk
I’ve just added a few new MP3s to the downloads page featuring Crimea related radio pieces that have been aired recently.
First up is the big one - all of the comments Colin Murray made on The Crimea during his four month long promotion of the band, playing each song from the album in the Black Hole segment of his Radio 1 show. Unfortunately there’s two missing - Requiem Aeternam which he played a few weeks before the rest so I had no chance to record it, and Several Thousand Years Of Talking Nonsense which he never actually played. But the rest of them were played and the comments are all available in one single MP3. If you wanna play each track inbetween comments, you can still download the whole album for free on the official website.
Owen Hopkin may have evaded you all with his appearance on Channel 4 news last week, but his interview with Five Live’s Drive show didn’t and is also available on the downloads page.
And finally Adam Walton impresses with his band knowledge, not only of previous gigs but also of a small upcoming release that you may wish to know about (unconfirmed as yet though). Check out his MP3 for that, and as he mentions it during the MP3, you can also get the live Crimea track Forgotten that they performed in the MS1 Club in 2003. Featuring former Crimea guitarist Julz Parker, it was broadcast live on Radio Wales as part of the Big Buzz festival. And just about everyone who’s emailed me in the past few days has asked for the song, so don’t be askin no more eh? 
Mentioned this yesterday but didn’t know anymore about it. But thanks to the guys on the Record Of The Day message board I’ve just managed to track down the recording of Owen giving an interview to Five Live on the band’s free album release. You can hear it here on Wednesday’s Drive show, just past 2 hours 53 minutes in, though I’ll have an mp3 up early next week. If you see / hear any more Crimea related stuff on radio or TV, make sure to let us know on the message board or in the comments section. Also on ROTD was a link to The Crimea’s PR people (Velocity) and media promotion (Scream) though lord knows why you’d wanna contact them. Unless you want PR stuff, obviously.
Giving the band more promotion is another long time Crimea supporter, Adam Walton, who’s recently been playing the band on his Radio Wales show. The last airing was on Sunday where he mentioned the free album and also the band’s gig at the MS1 Club in Cardiff a few years ago which he broadcast live on his show. Anyway, click here and skip to about 2:10 in. And again I’ll probably have an MP3 up early next week.
Colin Murray may have just finished playing the whole Crimea album on his Radio 1 show, but that doesn’t mean the band’s radio days are over. If you want to hear the band on more shows, be sure to request the tracks from your favourite DJ. Here’s a list of just some of the people who’ve played the band before, starting with long time Crimea fan Zane Lowe. Go on, bug him until he caves in, it worked for Gnarles Barkley didn’t it?
Zane Lowe (Radio 1)- BBC Contact Page (select Contact DJ then DJ’s name).
Bethan & Huw (Radio 1 Wales) - BBC Contact Page (as above).
Gideon Coe (6 Music) - gideon.6music@bbc.co.uk
Dermot O’Leary (Radio 2) - dermot@bbc.co.uk
Jonathan Ross (Radio 2) - jonathan.ross@bbc.co.uk
Tuesday evening Radio 1 DJ Colin Murray played the last Crimea track from the album as part of his Black Hole section. You can listen to the show here and check out ther tracklisting here. Although the last you’ll see of them in the Black Hole, Colin promised to play more Crimea during his shows in the future. Sometime next week I’ll also have a selection of MP3s up featuring Colin’s comments on the tracks, so watch out for them.
Aswell as Colin Murray, I got a message from the band yesterday saying Owen had done a number of interviews for various press people. Among them were Radio 5 Live, Radio 1 and Radio 6’s Newsbeat show, Channel 4 news’ podcast and Channel 5 TV news. Unfortunately I don’t know exactly when they did / will air, but I’ve got a feeling you’ve missed em all. So if anyone saw / heard OWen on any of the above, leave a comment and let us know how long his hair’s grown. I put a fiver on Joe’s catching up by the time the next tour starts.
The Crimea’s manager gave an interview to Dave Fanning on Ireland’s RTE Radio 1 yesterday on the Drivetime With Dave show. Thanks for the link goes to Peter who also says Dave’s the biggest DJ in Dublin. Manager Steve Tavener of Double Dragon Music (they also manage Ash) talks all about The Crimea’s road to their free album release, and their current activities including tea with the Chinese government. I don’t wanna know; all I ask is Davey back in one piece. Anyway, the interview lasts over ten minutes and features two song clips aswell. You can listen again by hitting this (it opens in RealPlayer) and skipping to 6 and a half minutes in, but cos I don’t know how long it’ll be there for, here’s a shiny new MP3 of the interview, just cos I love you all.
The Sun online’s Bizarre column is the next major publication to feature an article on The Crimea’s free album download. It’s so good, one wonders what they want. Anyway, the article’s dated today so you may find a copy in your local newsagent too. If so, let me know as I have some shopping to do.
Regular Crimea news source The Irish Times also mention the free download. It’s written by Jim Carrol, a DJ for Dublin’s Phantom 105.2 who reguarly spits out a few Crimea tunes on his show. Speaking of which, Colin Murray’ll be spinning a new one later today.
Israeli blog ?????? (Tachograph) has a rough translation of the Guardian’s Crimea article in Hebrew (thanks Stefab). Speaking of which, the Guardian’s article was the 2nd lead story on their music page yesterday, which again helps to explain the amount of hits to the site in the past 24hrs being more than there’s been in the past 4 weeks.
And here’s another version of the Reading Fez gig preview posted yesterday. This one’s from the BBC and has a larger version of the same pic.
You know the deal. Colin Murray, another Crimea album tune, tracklisting after the jump.
French website and Crimea fans Sound Of Violence post news of the new album. It may say it’s great, then again it may say it’s shite. I ain’t got a clue cos it’s all in French and I defy anyone to understand the language. À cette même! Believe.
English Crimea fans Comfort Comes had album news a few days ago, but it’s dissapeared now. Google’s cache, while it’s available, or just hit more.
Everyone’s using Vox right now. Confuses the hell out of me; bring back Audiogalaxy groups I say. Anyway, at least someone’s posted about the Crimea on there. Yup, you guessed it, more album news.
Here’s details on one of the tour gigs from Norwich Arts Centre. More tour news coming very soon; if you’d signed up to the mailing list you’d already know 
It’s that time of year again. The Crimea play a UK tour and spend more time advertising themselves behind a merch stall than on stage. But now you have a chance to put things right. Stop the humiliation! Owen’s barely visible behind that stack o CDs anyways… Join the Crimea Street Team! You’ll very likely get free entry to gigs in return for handing out flyers and other odd jobs. If you’re interested, e-mail duffyp@walsall.gov.uk or check out the forum post for more info.
A rare thing happened yesterday. A stranger appeared, baring gifts of knowledge, knowledge of a strange sound known as Phantom. Phantom FM that is, the Dublin radio station where DJ Jim Carroll has been playing Crimea tunes for over three weeks now. Tune in on Saturday between 10pm and 12pm for more. Take that, Colin, your Crimea secret is out. Serves you right for not letting Barry win.
Loop A Loop was Colin’s track of the week yesterday. Apparantly it’s his favourite song on the album. He also mentioned his clearly all-time favourite Crimea track Opposite Ends, saying that lyrics from it featured in the new album. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of what they are, so clue me in people. Anyway, listen again or hit more for the tracklisting.
Camden. Don’t you just love the place? I had a pet Camden once. I shot it. Erm… Camden New Journal have a preview of the last Proud Gallery gig. Don’t worry, there’s one more onthe 24th April so you too can get down there and nab your very own Camden. What you do after that is your own business.
Today’s album preview comes from The Irish Times. It’s only short but hit more to read it.
Sorry for not updating you on the latest from Colin “6th Member” Murray. He played Don’t Close Your Eyes On Me last night, and Bombay Sapphire Coma last week to much public praise. As always you can listen again on his website or view the tracklistings. If all goes well, he’ll be playing Loop A Loop next Tuesday around 11pm. FWIW, Bombay Sapphire was on the last album, but only the self released version.
Speaking of self-released albums, the band’s 2nd album Secrets Of The Witching Hour is released on May 13th as a free download, but if you like hard-copies (or just love the band) you can pre-order the CD album right here on the Crimea’s official web store. The site also includes a tracklisting if you’ve not been keeping track of Murray’s playlists.
And mentioning much the same thing are Culture Deluxe who posted a news item on the album and download / purchasing details. Hit more to read it.
So there was no new Witching Hour track on Colin Murray last night. It was a “best of” show so instead he played Raining Planets, previously aired while he was in the BBC1’s Fame Academy (has Barry got an album out yet?). Which is good, cos I missed the original airing. Not this time. Listen again by skipping to 1hr 20, read more for the playlist.
Again, it’s not exactly new news, but Davey’s two latest diary entries (from late last year) have just been added to the band’s MySpace page. If you wanna hear about the struggle for the new album, or an update on the Warner Bros situation (as if you didn’t know already), check em out. “Slugs can do anything”. Believe.
Mexico City, Paris, Carlisle, Guernsey… can you hear us!!!
Official mail outs are back; get yer gig news ‘ere!
