EWAN MACFARLANE'S MYSPACE
CLICK TO VISIT AND LISTEN TO NEW MATERIAL
http://www.myspace.com/ewanmacfarlane
Ladies and Gents
How are you all? I hope you are well. This post is one of the hardest things I have had to do in quite sometime. It is both with relief and regret that I have finally decided to call it a day with The Grim Northern Social.
Ten years have passed since the idea to start a band called The Grim Northern Social came into my head. During that decade there have been many highs and just as many lows. Thank you for sharing them both with myself and the boys.
The music game is a constant struggle and I feel we have taken this band as far as we can. I no longer have the strength or the want to keep kicking down doors that always seem to close again on The GNS.
I will however keep doing music with an aim to make it my all time career as will Pete, Ross, Paul and Andy. I would also like to take the time to thank every single one of them and that includes Tommy and Liam as well. A better bunch I could never have dreamed of meeting. They were all hard working passionate men and it has been my pleasure to work with all of them. Thanks to the people who kept The Grim Northern Social machine going, Chris for doing the website and publicising the band at every turn, and the road crew for helping to make the band such a great live experience.
I would also like to give special thanks to my beautiful wife "Jo" for pushing me every single day of that journey, without her none of this would have been possible…., "thank you".
To my special friend Davie Rollo, I’d like to say, thank you for everything mate.
And last, but not least, thanks to every single one of you, our fans, for making us your band. If it hadn't been for your loyal support I would probably have done this a year ago. Thanks for giving us your time, your hope and most of all your faith.
We will be releasing our final single, “Revolver†(very apt) along with a version of "New Rage Hope Song (live @ Glastonbury 2007)â€. This will be released as a strictly limited free download with artwork, as a special thanks to our army of loyal fans.
The single will be available as a free download, exclusively through the bands MYSPACE http://www.myspace.com/thegrimnorthernsocial for 96 hours from Tuesday 25th September at 12 noon.
I know this seems odd, but we felt that the last single should be a bit of an occasion rather than just releasing it through the normal channels.
I hope you enjoyed the good times as much as we did!
Please keep in touch with our individual myspace sites and websites to find out what new musical projects we will be working on, as we are all far from finished.
In the meantime I’ll be doing European touring with Apollo 440 and I’ll start recording a new album with them. After this I will be starting a new music venture for myself, so please keep in touch.
Our new web links will come on to The GNS website once they are set up.
Peace love and thanks for keeping it grim for so long
See you soon .....I Hope
Ewan GNS x
WATCH OUT FOR THE SPIES VIDEO
THE GRIM NORTHERN SOCIAL RADIO 1 INTERVIEW
Huw Stephens on Radio 1
To download the Unsigned Podcast go to Radio 1
The Grim Northern Social existed in Ewan MacFarlane’s head long before they existed in our lacklustre computerised post-modern world. He saw this band as an ideal, an archetype, an essential solution. It could be the perfect machine for expressing his hopes and fears as he moved away from London, and from one or two failed attempts at the rock’n’roll success story, back home to Scotland.
The band’s first album, with its tales of inner-city tension to pledges of eternal love, was ultimately one of hope, made big and bold by Ewan MacFarlane’s personally-charged classic style of rock songwriting, which doesn’t shy away from the revered territories of Bowie, Jagger, and Townshend. The album was listed as one of the albums of the year in Rolling Stone, while closer to home, the band gained loyal support from several radio stations and made many friends in the press.
The band appeared as special guests of artists including Elvis Costello and Simple Minds. Other live highlights included several T In the Park appearances and two mind-blowing sets at the South-By-Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas. This busy live schedule earned the GNS a faithful, if rather obsessive fanbase.
The GNS are back with their second effort entitled Watch Out For The Spies. On the new record, the majestic and uplifting GNS sound is wound tighter, biting hard with a fistful of instant classics. This time around, emphasis was placed on the in-yer-face live aspect of the Grim Northern Social. Although tinged with a newly bred cynicism, from the Jagger swagger and stomp of "Connected" to the almost spiritual power of "Save Your Skin", the album is truly a celebration of love and rock’n’roll. And after all, what else really matters?
The band’s extraordinary live power has always been indisputable. Music Week has proclaimed the band "a fine live act and decidedly the best the country has to offer". Ross Baxter, the slinky brooding lead guitarist, is the perfect onstage balance to Ewan MacFarlane, the magnetic, strutting showman. Paul Crawford’s powerful and exciting drumming style drives the band’s energy to exhilarating heights, while the whole sound is coiled together with Pete Cowan’s driving basslines.
Now, brimming with an impatient energy, the Grim Northern Social, with the new album Watch Out For The Spies in tow, are ready to prove their true worth. To prove that they have that thing. That unnameable thing that all great bands have; the thing that gives you that shiver when you know you’re watching something truly special; the quality that separates the good, from the stars. The band’s reputation in Scotland is undeniable, exemplified by the GNS’ selling out Glasgow’s celebrated King Tuts Wah-Wah Hut on two consecutive nights, for two years running, simply through word-of-mouth. The band has recently won the Emerging Talent Competition at Glastonbury and will be playing the John Peel Stage at this years festival. Glasto guru Michael Eavis called the Grims "The band we've been waiting for". No one has any reason to believe that the rest of the world won’t follow suit. So come on. Let’s go.
For general band enquiries, please email: [email protected]