Bucket lists and dream festivals!!
Considering my last blog update was October 2016, I think it's ready for a new update on Penelope Isles' journey. Apologies for the laziness... actually I take that back, we have been working our asses off!
As some of you who follow the band may know, we gone and got a bloomin' record deal (yeehaaa cowboy) with the wonderful family that is Bella Union. Despite the deal being signed earlier this year, the novelty of whispering "label maaaates" in a disturbed tone right into a friend's ear when Beach House comes on the radio will never get old. I'm so proud of us, as obnoxious as it sounds! We have all worked so hard on our own for years.... Gig after gig, handmaking CD's and T shirts, ten hour van journeys, sleeping on kitchen floors, endless band practices, the four of us together...and max of course, the kid who helps us bring it all to life. And now we finally have the assistance of an incredible team to help us make the next step....which I guess has been our main focus this past year... our big ol' debut album.
'Untill the Tide Creeps In' will be released in March 2019. With the help of a dear friend lending us his studio, we were able to spend many late nights experimenting, evolving and capturing our songs. We cannot thank them enough. You know who you are! My brother has worked so insanely hard to produce such a professional studio album, but inspired by the qualities that our favourite lo-fi records possess. It's also the most involved I have ever been in making a record and I have completely loved making it. We cant wait to share it with everyone!
A few star struck moments have happened to us over the past few months. One being when we were mixing the album at Strongroom Studios in London with the beautiful ginger Bella Union house engineer, Iggy. He happened to sneak Jack into Nigel Godrich's studio for a photo sat at the very desk that he mixed some of those hits on! Radiohead nerd's will understand this bucket list tick. Oh and how could we forget the 'Jason from Spiritualized moment', where we planted a tiny cut out of Sowy in the studio before we got kicked out whilst Q magazine got some snaps of J Spaceman doing his thing. He made the cut!!However the most meaningful and overwhelming experience of this year, and probably our whole lives, had been touring with one of our favourite bands in the world, The Magic Numbers. I still find it ridiculous that we played eleven gigs with these dudes. Not only that, but shared some truly special moments which none of us will forget. It's crazy, one moment we're cruising down the A30 listening to 'Those the Brokes' for the 300th time and next thing I'm trying to persuade Michele to play 'Take me or Leave me' at a house party in Bristol.
A couple of weeks ago we were invited to play the wonderful SeaChange festival in Totnes. After a month of no gigging, we all had that 'don't f*ck it up' feeling in the back of our heads. That was our biggest crowd to date, it felt amazing and the feeling sustained throughout the whole weekend. You must all try get a ticket next year! The line up was perfect, with inspiring sets from the amazing Gwenno and Lost Horizons. The following weekend we played the Big Top at our dream festival, End of the Road.... Now that was our biggest crowd yet. I don't think I have ever felt so electric before going on stage. Pffft who do I think I am, talking like I'm Dave Grohl playing a sold out Wembley. Even if I do sound over the top, it was wonderful and we felt so lucky. BUCKET LIST TICK! Every time we've been to EOTR with all our best friends, we always say that one day, one of our bands will play it... so it felt pretty darn good, especially seeing our loved ones in the crowd...and Big Jeff! It was an honour to be apart of such a magical festival. If you have been to EOTR, you'll know how indescribable it truly is!
So this is the end of my rambling on. I must say it has absolutely passed the time on this horrendous megabus journey.... Cornish folk will relate. Please check out our tour poster if you have a spare moment, we leave in a couple of days and it would mean oh so much to play for you.
Ta ra for now!
Lily
