Darren Hanlon

for those kids living in the Emerald City there’s a few things happening this weekend i thought you might be interested in. Firstly, on Saturday 5th I’ve been asked to participate in the opening of the Sydney Festival for a free gig in the Domain. Myself, Angie Hart and others are singing songs written by various children from around the country. we’ll be accompanied by the Sydney youth orchestra and choir so it’ll sound lush i expect. the songs themselves are pretty cute and in one i’m supposed to be a ”bruised banana”. Anyway, it kicks off at 5pm and soon after Brian Wilson is playing. That’s right I say, and for free! We worked out the other night that you could finish any sentence with “and then Brian Wilson is playing” and people will be suitably impressed (take note anyone who has to tell their parents they failed last semester…break the news this Saturday).

The next day on the 6th my friend Stef (Architecture Records Boss) and I are hosting one of our underneath the Clothesline events at 2 frederick St, Petersham. It’s $5 and Joel Plaskett (Canada singing guy) and Sui Zhen (amazing sydney performer who sang with me at my xmas show) are playing. It kicks off at 4pm…

The new clip for Fingertips + Mountaintops starring UK comedian Daniel Kitson is hitting the screens tonight on RAGE around 12:20am, and should be repeated over the coming weeks. Be a Rage cheat and check the ABC website beforehand.

I’m happy it”s xmas. there’s nothing like a good old ritual to bring folks together. This year went past like a comet. I almost had to avert my eyes to see it.

I started playing intimate shows for Christmas a couple of years ago and now it”s also something I look forward to in December. I rarely play completely solo so it feels equally scary and exhilarating to be alone with no band members to blame mistakes on. This year I’ve decided to take it to some other cities round Australia for the first time, in Adelaide, Perth and Hobart.

Some of the shows will allow underage humans in if accompanied by an adult (please check with the venue first) so i encourage you to bring your family.

I know I’ve been threatening to stop playing and have a break from touring now for some time. I feel like a carpet shop that has a closing down sale and then reopens a month later. I can’t help myself. So who know’s, this time i could actually mean it. Need some time to make up new songs.

So hope to see you at a Christmas show near you. If not, at midnight mass…

Wednesday 12th
Mojo”s, Fremantle
$18 on the door

Sunday 16th,
Grace Emily, Adelaide
$15 presale over the bar, $18 on the night

Tuesday 18th
Toff in the Town, Melbourne
with Pikelet
www.myspace.com/
$15 from Corner Hotel, Polyester Records, Missing Link, Metropolis
$18 on the night
(selling fast)

Wednesday 19th
Backspace Theatre, Hobart
with Pikelet
$15 from Theatre Royal box office
$18 on the night

Friday 21st
Clarendon Guesthouse, Katoomba
with Sui Zhen
www.myspace.com/suizhen
$20 show only, $50 with dinner
tickets from the venue at 02 47821322

Saturday 22nd
the Vanguard, Sydney
tickets from the website: www.thevanguard.com.au
(almost sold out)

Sunday 23rd
the Troubadour, Brisbane
With Sue Ray and friends
www.myspace.com/sueray
$15 from the website: www.troubadour.oztix.com.au
$18 on the night

so sorry i had to cancel my show at the Gallipoli Club on this last tour. it”s the first gig i ever had to cancel. lost my voice completely. spent the day moping around with a packet of butter menthols in my pocket, dreaming of the steel city. promise i’ll be back next year….

Firstly i wanted to thank all the lovely people who came to shows over the past few months on the world tour. I had the best time since sliced bread and hope to be back over again next year.

And now it’s time to travel again on native soil. To start off we”re playing some theatre shows with Sarah Blasko and Kristin Hersh in WA and Tasmania. The details for these are at http://www.sarahblasko.com/.

I apologize to all our friends in the Apple Isle, I know we haven’t done our own show down there for a while but i promise it’ll happen sometime before the next blue moon.

Afterwards we’ll though be doing our own shows in familiar places and some new ones too. Traveling for the first time to Geraldton in WA and performing in some 100 year old stone building. Also The Famous Spiegeltent has invited us to play inside it as part of the Melbourne festival. I realize that the ticket prices are a little higher than usual but I’m told that’s the way it goes with old historical tee-pees so i promise we”ll wear the most expensive clothes we have if that helps.

This tour also marks the first ever show proper in my home town of Gympie.
The show in the Heritage Hall at the Gympie Civic center will be the first time i’ve trodden those boards since reciting “the man from snowy river” for the esteiddfod in highschool. Rumor has it my grandmother has started baking already.

Making up the band on this trip will be Portlands own Cory Gray on piano/trumpet and the wonderful Pikelet on drums who’ll also be supporting with her solo act at most shows. Pikelet and i met for the first time in Europe a few months back and did 2 weeks touring together and had an amazing time. I’m so happy to bring her on the road with us here. This will be the first tour in many years without Bree Van Reyk who’s taking time to concentrate on work with Holly Throsby so we wish her the best with that.

So here”s the official spiel:

DARREN HANLON BACK ON THE ROAD IN SPRINGTIME

With the stamp ink still drying in his passport after an adventure around the globe, Darren Hanlon returns home to play a run of shows on his native soil to make sure Australia hasn’t forgotten him. Over the last three months his journey took him to such exotic locales as Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Italy, UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Finland and the USA. Playing to audiences of anywhere between 10 and 1000 in clubs, book shops, cinemas, churches and even the odd living room, Darren regaled people with his songs and confused them with his thick South East Queensland accent.

“I really needed the adventure”, he confesses, “the shows themselves fell in categories from bizarre to joyous or just plain character building.”

It was also a good time to perform with old friends David Dondero, Don Lennon, Leader and Dear Nora as well as share the stage with musical heros Jeffrey Lewis, Kimya Dawson, Deerhoof and Daniel Johnston.

Throughout the European leg of the tour Darren was joined onstage by Melbourne’s angel-voiced, multi-instrumentalist Pikelet. They had so much fun together the partnership will continue for this Australian tour with Pikelet filling in on drum and vocal duties. Pikelet will also double as the support act for most of the dates, which will be very pleasant.

This will be the last chance to catch Darren before he takes a break next year to work on the follow-up to his most excellent record of 2006, Fingertips and Mountaintops.

DATES AND VENUES

Oct 20
Bootenal Family Tavern, Geraldton
Free!

Oct 27
Jade Monkey, Adelaide
Tickets from CIB on 08 8231 0824 or
www.venuetix.com.au or 08 8225 8888

Oct 28 and 29
The Famous Spiegeltent, Melbourne
http://www.spiegeltent.net/index.php?action=productcatalogue&prodcat_id=1771&prod_id=14237&pageID=4633&sectionID=0

Oct 30
ANU Bar, Canberra
Tickets available from Ticketek – 13 28 49 or www.ticketek.com.au and ANU Union (02) 6125 2446

Oct 31
Factory, Sydney
Tickets available from The Factory website, the Factory Box Office phone number on 9550 3666 and also in person at 130 Enmore Road, Newtown. Website:
http://www.factorytheatre.com.au/events/2007/10/31/darren-hanlon

Nov 1
Galipolli Legion Club, Newcastle
Tickets available from the venue on (02) 49612430

Nov 2
The Top Pub – Uralla
Tickets available from the venue and Black Dot Music Armidale

Nov 3
Bon Amici – Toowoomba
Tickets available from the venue on (07) 46324533

Nov 4
Gympie Civic Centre
Tickets available from Gympie CD Centre (07) 5482 2615

Nov 8
The Globe, Brisbane
Ticket available from OzTix on 1300 762 545 or www.oztix.com.au

Nov 9
Riverstone, Bellingen
Tickets at the door, enquiries Riverstone Shop on (02) 66559099

Dates have gone up for the US tour starting in Athens on the 9th of aug. Of course more will be added over time so please keep checking.

(Just letting you know i’ve picked 2 titles out of the huge list i received. Thanks for all the suggestions! stay tuned for the tunes)

So while all this website stuff is getting sorted out i thought i might set
myself an assignment. It’s been a while since i left school and I miss it
sometimes. people are always offering ideas for songs which never works. I
think I write better to song Titles so this is the competition….
please send
any song title ideas you have to slimsings@hotmail.com along with your name and mailing address.

I’ll choose 2 and write songs for them. if i get them done in time i’ll have
them pressed onto vinyl for the next Australian tour coming up later in the
year.

Of course there”ll be a prize and a ”Song Title” writing credit for
your resume.
Not sure what the prize will be but lets just say its value will
be somewhere between a Porsche and an Iced Vovo.