the miserable rich profile picture

the miserable rich

the sound of one lip kissing

About Me

'Back in 2006, cellist and pianist Will Calderbank joined James de Malplaquet to form the Grape Authority, a live band playing the songs the latter had written under the name James Grape. De Malplaquet had a deal as a solo folk/electronica project, but while recording and developing a live band version, the two became frustrated with the traditions of indie, folk and electronica, and decided to turn what they had done on it's head.They were also playing in 8-piece alt-folk outfit Shoreline, and with the band’s encouragement, they decided to use similar instrumentation in their new project.Taking the name from an experience they’d had playing at the wedding of two ultra-rich aristocrats in Rome, and musical inspiration from "Say you don't mind" by ex-Zombies singer Colin Blunstone and the Balanescu's super-cool orchestral covers of Krafwerk, James and Will decided to form The Miserable Rich - a chamber quintet to play their modern songs.Recording as they developed their sound, the pair recruited fellow Shoreliner Mike Siddell (Light Speed Champion, Kate Walsh, ex-Hope of the States) on violin, Lindsey Oliver (Kate Walsh, the Mummers) on double-bass, and Jim Briffett (Clearlake) on guitar. The album, 12 Ways To Count, was recorded at de Malplaquet's house in Hove as the band formed over the summer of 2007.The Miserable Rich meanwhile helped promote themselves and other bands in their fledgeling Willkommen Collective (Shoreline, Sons of Noel and Adrian, Moonshine~Moonshine and the Leisure Society) through the collective's sold-out monthly Willkommen nights.Having refined their 'bar-room chamber music' both on record and on stage, 2008 promises to be a breakthrough year for The Miserable Rich. The album “12 ways to count” will be released in Europe on Hazelwood Vinyl Plastics in March, with the single “Pisshead/Boat Song’ released in the UK in April on Humble Soul. You can catch the Miserable Rich on tour in the UK in April and Europe in May, and listen to their music at myspace.com/themiserablerich.If you like it, let 'em know. They'd like that.And may all your ships sail safely through the night.'I think you can see that we all love holidays

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 11/22/2006
Band Website: themiserablerich.com / themiserablerich.co.uk
Band Members: will calderbank, mike siddell, jim briffet, rhys lovell and james de malplaquet.new photos by stephen burch of the great park, for which we thank him*** Click here to subscribe to The Miserable Rich Mailing List ***

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Top 20 bands of 2007, Source magazine;"One of the few bands to unite the entire office, which is a rarity enough to earn them a place, but more so because they write the kind of tunes capable of uniting nations.''British band The Miserable Rich offers beautifully reflective sounds, influenced by classical compositions. Serene strings back softly expressive vocals. Exquisitely written, arranged and performed. This is music to sigh to." Pal Alto Daily News http://paloaltodailynews.com/article/2007-6-22-myspace'Today I found out about a new UK quintet that goes by the Miserable Rich. They make beautiful acoustic chamber pop that I find stands up well alongside like-minded artists (and TYS favs) like Lost in the Trees and Brooke Waggoner. One listen was enough for me to start posting this, and even though I know next to nothing about this band, I know I want to pay attention to what they’re doing. They have an album out in Europe come March titled 12 Ways to Count, but beyond that all I know is you can listen to 4 tracks of theirs on their blog as well as the ones on their myspace. I’ll keep you all posted when I know more, but I figured this is just too good to keep a secret. Great for sitting back, closing your eyes, and relaxing. In the meantime, enjoy the cover they did of Hot Chip’s “Over and Over.” Bet you never knew that you wanted that song to have a dark chamber pop reworking, did you? Enjoy…' the yellow stereo.com'this is homage not fromage' Rob Da Bank, Radio 1 playing our cover of Hot Chip's 'Over and Over'http://www.beatmag.net/february08/warm_up/news.php'The Miserable Rich Steal Hot Chip’s Hot BitchThe history of the cover version has thrown up many corkers, amongst them Soft Cell (Gloria Scott’s 'Tainted Love'), Jimi Hendrix (Dylan’s ‘All Along The Watchtower’) and Aretha Franklin, trumping Otis Redding’s ‘Respect’ and making it her own.The Miserable Rich tossed their car-keys into the song-swap fruit-bowl, leaving arm-in-arm with Hot Chip’s most attractive offering, ‘Over & Over’ and whisked her off for an evening of luke-warm loving. Making off with the best Hot Chip had in their harem is one thing, but returning her with a cheeky glint in her eye, and a grateful smile on her lips is quite another. It’s classy, it’s cheeky and it’s a bit fucking weird…;
Influences: mum, dad, newspapers, girls
Sounds Like: the sound of one lip kissing

Vote For the miserable rich To Play At Green Man Festival 2008!!!

Record Label: hazelwood vinyl plastics (Europe) humble soul (UK)
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

days 8 to 15

Day 8 Our table football dream team Will and Rhys got hammered 10-2 by our German hosts this morning  meaning I'm officially the worst player ever. Drove from Nurnburg back to Hazelwood headquarters ...
Posted by the miserable rich on Sun, 01 Jun 2008 01:01:00 PST

Days 5 6 and 7

Day 5 Woke up at Hazelwood Studios today and had a good much needed rehearsal. Bought some suspiciously cheap apple schnapps from Aldi for later. Drove to Wurzburg - a lovely little town in Bavaria wi...
Posted by the miserable rich on Thu, 22 May 2008 08:03:00 PST

Day 4

We had a late night last night at the Hazelwood label party - thoroughly enjoyable but I feel we paid the price today. We went to Cologne and ate Crepes which were delicious. Our show was at the 672 c...
Posted by the miserable rich on Mon, 19 May 2008 03:11:00 PST

day three

On this day we were playing in Offenbach. The venue was called Habel 2 or something similar and was a wharehouse type venue opposite a field containing picnic tables and nice caravans and a little st...
Posted by the miserable rich on Sun, 18 May 2008 04:01:00 PST

tour diary

The Miserable Rich  touring the world and beyond&Day 1We are having a lovely time in Germany. We met our tour manager Carsten at Cologne airport and he took us to Hazelwood central in Frankfurt. Plea...
Posted by the miserable rich on Sat, 17 May 2008 07:16:00 PST

touring in the home of Scorpions!!

So hier wir sind in Germany, and let me tell you, IT'S GREAT. We had a wee trip around the UK, and the artwork is finally done for the home album: things are good. Getting away to foreignclimes, howev...
Posted by the miserable rich on Fri, 16 May 2008 02:43:00 PST

album released in Europe

Well, i don’t know about you guys, but i’ve never had an album released. Today, it finally happened.No fanfare, no champagne, and we’re still as desperately deep in debt as ever;but ...
Posted by the miserable rich on Fri, 04 Apr 2008 03:08:00 PST

radio is free....

and we're on the BBC.Er, locally.But you can get it on line...Have a look and listen xSunday 6th JanPhil JacksonPresenter, South:Live7-9pm Sunday eveningsBBC SCR and BBC Radio SolentListen in Bright...
Posted by the miserable rich on Sat, 05 Jan 2008 12:44:00 PST

Record deal and German tour

Hullo you folksit's been a long time, but we've got good news for those who have been asking for a release.We'll be releasing an album on the lovely Hazelwood label in late February. They're a great b...
Posted by the miserable rich on Mon, 03 Dec 2007 03:56:00 PST

The Barmaid's Canon and Merry Go Round

Well, dear folk, we are now two thirds through recording our album, and it's time to play you something new.So here they are.Aside from pushing the song for my mother, Swansong, up to second, we've al...
Posted by the miserable rich on Wed, 23 May 2007 01:57:00 PST