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James McCann

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FEATURED SONG
Sidewalk
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Sidewalk
Album:
Released: Jan 1, 2009
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General Info

  • Genre: Folk Rock / Jam Band / Rock

    Location Melbourne, AU

    Profile Views: 85047

    Last Login: 7/23/2011

    Member Since 5/12/2006

    Record Label Torn & Frayed/Shock<br />Bang!/Fuse<br />Beast Records

    Type of Label Indie

  • Bio

    ...... ..Myspace Editor.... ..Pimp MySpace.. .... AVAILABLE NOW!!!.. ..WHERE WAS I THEN CD.. [TORN AND FRAYED] AUS.. ..LAST NIGHT I MET THE DEVIL CD & LP.. [BANG! RECORDS] SPAIN.. ..SWEET CASUALTY CD.. [TORN AND FRAYED].. ..BOUND FOR THE BLUES CD.. [TORN AND FRAYED].. ..BOUND FOR THE BLUES LP.. [BEAST RECORDS].. .. Born in Glasgow, Scotland and migrating to Australia with his family to the South West Australian backwoods town of Albany, James started writing and performing in bands at pubs at the age of 15 while still in high school and the writing was on the wall... .. From Albany,he made his way north to Perth, again forming bands and performing around the city and in rural locations, recording a few demos. But the frustration of isolation encouraged James's move to Sydney at age 22, where he formed, wrote and performed in bands such as Harpoon, Nunchukka Superfly, and Lowdorados, playing constantly in and around Sydney while also playing the Livid festival '95, the Big Day Out '96 and '97, and a range of festivals taking him from Sydney to Melbourne Adelaide and Perth... Harpoon released the album ..Fork Tongued Pressed and Greasy.. on Black Hole/Shock... .. Returning to Perth in 1998, meeting Gareth Liddiard and Rui Pereira on Christmas Eve the Drones where formed a week later with drummer Warren Hall... This line-up also played as the Gutterville Splendour Six, augmented with vocalist Maurice Flavel. The Gutterville released 500 copies of an EP that, after the band folded, ended up on the playlist of the late DJ John Peel. Henry Rollins and Tex Perkins are also cited as fans... Members of the Gutterville Splendour Six included Steve Joines and Brendan Humphries, both of whom moved on to form the Kill Devil Hills, while vocalist Maurice Flavel formed M.F. and his Truckload of Hope and drummer Warren Hall played with Johnny Casino and the Secrets and the Volcanics... .. In 2004 he gave the Drones a song called ..This Time.. which ended up as the closer on the their Australian Music Prize-winning album ..Wait Long By The River And The Bodies Of Your Enemies Will Float By.. .. Johnny Casino and the Secrets also covered James's song ..Drunk and Tired[and i fucked my shit up]..on their EP ..Cowboys and Indians..[Off the Hip]featuring amongst others Brad Shepherd from The Hoodoo Gurus on lead guitar... James has played guitar with the likes of Damo Suzuki from Can,and Spencer P Jones and the Escape Committee... .. ..Where Was I Then.. was picked up by Andrew McGee's Melbourne based label Torn & Frayed and is distributed through Shock Records... Torn & Frayed have released the Kill Devil Hills albums ..The Drought.. and ..Heathen Songs... .. They have also released music by Townes Van Zandt,The Cuban Heels,The Bowers,Jacky Winter,Conway Savage and The Dirty Three... .. ..Where Was I Then.. is raw, intimate, intense and distinctive in it's sound... The songs capture a sense of space and vastness... ..Last Night I Met The Devil.. released on Spanish label Bang! Records features tracks that dont appear on ..Where Was I Then.. including the extended 22 minute psych out She's Intermediate/Hoodoo Joe. .. .. After both albums where released James toured solo through out France and Spain performing in the major cities as well as the smaller towns.With the Dirty Skirt Band he is now is planning to tour France and Spain in October/November 2010 to promote the European release of ..Bound For The Blues..[dates yet to be announced]... ..Also look out for a special 2010 European Tour edition 12" vinyl EP on Beast Records... .. The ..Sweet Casualty.. album was recorded in a one day sitting in the very relaxed atmosphere of a vineyard in Nagambie,Victoria,the album is lo-fi acoustic based... .. .. Bound For The Blues.. was recorded at the same vineyard over 8 days and is a harder edged album where wah wah guitar sounds,Rhodes piano,bass and drums, brass and feeding back guitars compete on a sonic collision course underpinned by the melody of the song.The album came out on CD on Torn and frayed and on vinyl on French label Beast Records home to other Aussie acts like Six Ft Hick,Digger and the Pussycats and Gentle Ben and his Sensitive Side... ..Bound for the Blues.. features the Dirty Skirt Band.. .. AVAILABLE NOW!!!.. ..WHERE WAS I THEN CD.. [TORN AND FRAYED] AUS.. ..LAST NIGHT I MET THE DEVIL CD & LP.. [BANG! RECORDS] SPAIN.. ..SWEET CASUALTY CD.. [TORN AND FRAYED].. ..BOUND FOR THE BLUES CD.. [TORN AND FRAYED].. ..BOUND FOR THE BLUES LP.. [BEAST RECORDS] FRANCE.. .. AVAILABLE AT THESE STORES.. .. PURE POP RECORDS.. GREVILLE RECORDS.. TITLE.. LAST RECORD STORE.. MISSING LINK.. RED EYE [SYD].. POLYESTER.. BANG! RECORDS [SPAIN].. MUNSTER RECORDS [SPAIN MAIL ORDER ON-LINE CATALOGUE].. BEAST RECORDS [FRANCE MAIL ORDER].. ROCKIN BONES RECORD STORE [RENNES - FRANCE].. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

  • Members

    ..James McCann's Dirty Skirt Band .... .. ..James McCann.. - Lyrics, Music, Guitar, Vocals.. .. ..Johanna Brockman.. - Guitar, Vocals.. .. ..Jeff Hooker.. - Bass.. .. ..Simon Edwards.. - Drums.. ..

  • Influences

    .. .. .. .. .. .. ....Where Do You Go?..Live in Madrid at the Rock Palace, May 2008 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Knowing Smile.. Clip by Thom Corcoran

  • Sounds Like

    JAMES MCCANN Bound For The Blues… (Torn & Frayed/Shock) Former Drones member James McCann whips music like the dog it is, forces it to submit, makes it do his bidding. With songs wrapped around his little finger and trapped under his thumb he manages to both scream blue murder and break hearts. Bound For The Blues… comes over the horizon as the sun sets, casting long shadows on the red earth and scaring off hungry coyotes. Whooping and hollering like undead cowboys it beams out 10,000 watts of pure rock’n’roll. It starts with a burst of catchy 60s groove and finishes with the end of the world. What more could you ask for? ‘Last Night I Met The Devil’ is early out of the gates, packed with as much hellfire as you’d expect, and plenty of wailing sax to boot, it sounds like Morphine, set on fire. And then, tear jerker/heartstring yanker ‘No Weight’ bats its eyelids with a familiar guitar tone and a backbone of country gospel and vertebrae of ethereal Rhodes keyboard. Backed by the brilliant Dirty Skirt Band, with guitarist Jo Brockman lending her vocal harmonies to the fray, this tune can do no wrong. Without being born in this country, native Glaswegian McCann does a better job of Australian music than plenty of other more famous artists. If they weren’t so difficult to fit in the mailbox, I’d post him a shovel that he could use to bury those Idol bastards like we all want him to. This is the music that should be oozing from speakers across the nation. It sounds, quite literally, like Natalie Basingthwaite’s throat being cut with a rusty straight razor. Drones fans should pick this up out of a sense of completion, everyone else should get it out of a sense of national pride. HHHH Tal Wallace

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