Amph [Crowded House] Yay! My favourite band's getting back together!

Some 10 years after calling it quits, the loss of drummer Paul Hester two years back to suicide has rekindled the musical relationship between Neil Finn and bassist Nick Seymour. What started out as a Neil Finn solo album, with Nick Seymour guesting on bass has morphed into a new Crowded House album. The band have also called in latter-day member Mark Hart for the forthcoming world tour (Mark may have been at the studio sessions too, unclear on that presently), and are currently auditioning for a new drummer.

[image=http://www.musik-base.de/images/groups/Crowded-House.jpg]

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Already confirmed for Coachella along with a reformed Rage Against the Machine.

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[b]Here's some YouTube goodness[/b] for those unfamilar with the band (or only remember [i]Don't Dream It's Over[/i] or [i]Weather With You[/i])

[link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0jJxqUdGtk]Don't Dream It's Over[/link] video

[link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRwtrmgaaEg]Don't Dream It's Over[/link] live Farewell Concert, Sydney Opera House steps, 1996

[link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MXKZUX8XgY]Into Temptation[/link] video

[link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vv9iQ1TZZI]Mean to Me[/link] live 1987

[link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b99vu9bH2Zc]Weather With You[/link] live 1993

[link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mixli808eeU]Something so Strong[/link] Live 1987

[link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOenp3MUnh0]Better Be Home Soon[/link] video

 

No Tim?

I love Crowded House. I also loved Split Enz back in the day..

 

That's great news. Glad to hear it.

My personal favourite.

 

This is really great to hear.

 

Good news!

 

There is an MC Charlie credited on the album, which is almost certainly Tim (Johnny Marr also guests). Knowing Tim he'll guest at a few live shows where logistically possible, but he's pretty busy promoting his new album Imaginary Kingdom at the moment.

Here's Tim's lead single Couldn't Be Done from his new album (harks back to the old Six Months in a Leaky Boat clip).

 

Awesome.

 

Yeah, that's a beaut. Amazing video by Kerry Brown too.

Though Brown directed an almost identical video for Crowded House's brilliant Private Universe, a song I'd have envisaged with amuch subtler treatment. Black and white, possibly. The video's just two busy for such a personal song.

I can't find the video, so here's a live version in the meantime.

 

Oh, the 'gossip' quote in the opening post is very likely to be a hoax/wind-up. Just seemed so... plausible.

But the band HAS recorded a new album and IS touring, but disregard all that stuff in my 2nd quoted section.

Here's the Billboard.com article

 

I have to say, Johnny Marr is one of the greatest underestimated musicians ever... he made The Smiths... overshadowed Morrissey... for real. True story.... Johnny Marr really was the smiths.

 

Have you seen the "Neil Finn & Friends" DVD Seven Worlds Collide, Harps? I was at the last show of the week - much of which ended up on the DVD;

Band was Neil Finn, Tim Finn, Johnny Marr, Eddie Vedder, Phil Selway, Ed O'Brien, Sebastian Steinberg, Lisa Germano, Betchadupa (Neil's son's band)...

Amazon

Awesome stuff.

 

Can I have another piece of chocolate cake?

 

Now the excess of fat on your American bones will cushion the impact as you sink like a stone.

 

I have the cd. Pretty good, though I had outrageously high expectations of it. Why?

Because I saw CH live on the Woodface tour, second row at the Beacon Theatre in New York. One of the best shows I've ever seen, incredibly intimate, great conneciton betwene the band and the audience, great musicianship.

So I'm thrilled. Not surprised about no Tim, though, he only joined the band officially later on, and I got the feeling his addition helped create some of the tensions that caused the break-up.

And regardless, Paul Hester will be sadly missed.

 

Yeah, their live shows were second to none. I loved that you never knew what you were gonna get when those guys took the satge - in large part due to Hester's off-the-cuff adlibs.

I've never seen a band before or since be at such ease and interact with the audience so effortlessly and hilariously.

 

What month/year was that? Can you recall? (or just the year).

I may have a tape of that show.

 

It would have to be this one.

The set list looks about right, from what I remember, mainly two things:

1. after playing "When You Come", Neill turned to Paul Hester and asked what they should play next, Paul replied somehting like that they'd had Weather With You as foreplay, the "When You Come", so they needed something for the cozy aftermath, at which they broke into Don't Dream It's Over.

2. They closed with a Split Enz song I knew I had heard before, but didn't know the title of. Six Months in A Leaky Boat fits the bill perfetly.

 

My box of tapes is tucked away behind piles of crap, but I'll try and dig 'em out in the next few days. If you don't hear from me in a week or so, drop me a PM.

 

I'm going to have to get that... sounds awesome..

 

Marr is't mentioned in the article jp just posted, would be a shame if he weren't playing on it. Like you said, he made the Smiths.

 

MY FAV

http://youtube.com/watch?v=chVPi-CZ34E

 

I was never a fan of Crowded House for some reason.

 

NEW CROWDED HOUSE DRUMMER ANNOUNCED
After what seems like endless drummer auditions and requests for auditions, we are happy to announce that Crowded House's new drummer is Matt Sherrod. Matt has been part of Beck's band, and we happily welcome him to the Crowded House family.

[image=http://www.vater.com/education/behindthescenes/ontheroad/liveatnamm/images/D_MattSherrod.jpg]

Funny, now the yanks outnumber the Kiwi and the Aussie...



Oh, and here's that overblown "4 Seasons" re-tread video for the sublime Private Universe I was discussing earlier.

 

Neil Finn's guitar tech has a myspace page (of course). Here's today's entry.

Day Three Recording

Today was a good day in the studio, two complete songs were recorded today, no mean feat.
Mark played some bitching guitar on the second song, using Neil's old Gretsch, Nick is playing some great bass and Matt, well...he's just so good, we all love him, he's a great drummer as well as a super chap.
Our Wurlitzer blew out two notes today, I have two rebuilt Wurlitzers being delivered to the studio in the morning and our old one is going in for a rebuild, about time too, she's been around the world more than me, has probably done at least 500 shows as well as hours and hours of recording work, and is in dire need of some professional loving.
All else is fine, the old amps keep working, I particularly like Neil's '57 Fender Deluxe, she is a sweetie, the '63 Vox AC30 is a beauty as well.
Nick is playing through an old Ampeg BA-15 combo, I 've seen them before but never had the chance to get up close with one for a few days, they're lovely.
Matt's using an early 70's Ludwig and it really sounds good, Jonathan the engineer has done a great job of miking the kit.

Studio Day Two

Today was Johnny's last day here, he played some great guitar I must say, God he's good.
Day two was more of the same, one song finished now and onto song two which Neil's had sitting around for ages, I remember hearing the demo in 2005.
Sharon and I made lunch for everyone today and it was well appreciated.
Not much else to say really, weather here is terrible, raining and cold and then the sun comes out for a few minutes and then it goes and it's still cold.
Found a good coffee shop near Dorset Square, that means a lot to me, a double espresso dumped into a latte and I'm happy.

Last Day of Rehearsal and London

The last day of rehearsal was a short one, around three hours b/c the guys wanted to head into London and beat the Sunday night traffic, I, of course, had to pack up all the gear and got stuck in the Sunday night traffic, two and a half hours from Box to London....yawn.
Unloaded all the gear into the studio upon my arrival in London.
My hotel is in Dorset Square and I am now fully aware of the Bakerloo line that runs right underneath my room, I thought it was an earthquake at first.
At 6.00am this morning..rumble rumble rumble...damn, I have moved rooms now.
Anyway, I digress.
The new Crowded House are in the recording studio as I type, all set up, Steve Lillywhite is the producer, I think he's the U2 guy?
He looks like Steve Irwin and I told him so, he told me to **** off, all fun and games here, but he does look like Steve Irwin, no doubt about it, I keep looking into the control room and see crocodile hunter.
Today the guy are going over and over one new song, I must have heard it 30 times, but that is the way of the recording studio.
Johnny Marr is on this session too, good to see Johnny again, looking all fit and way slimmer than the last time I saw him. He's a good guy is Johnny and a great guitar player.
Tomorrow will be more of the same and we have two weeks of this.

Cool to have a diary of the recording sessions. Johhny Marr guesting on guitar. Ahh. Heaven...