Plans taking shape for Kickstart The Empire!

The vinyl has sold out. Thank you all 🙂 You should all have codes, as I’ve emailed each of you. Vinyl should be with me soon, and I’ll email again to tell you its in the post. As an added bonus I’ve added an extra download code, which you are welcome to give to a friend, leave at a bus stop, give to a kind stranger, as you wish 🙂

I’m busy filling each of the baggies that come with the vinyls and woodcuts. The ‘Empire seeds’ were going to be sand, but when I filled a little baggie last night with some, its reddish-brown builder’s sand hue looked way too hardcore, too Breaking Bad and dodgy to send through the post, so I’ve opted for two different things for the vinyl and woodcuts. If you’ve ordered them you’ll find out what 😉 Both are suitable metaphors for growing an Empire…

The woodcuts are now up for sale in my shop. I was going to make it a “live shows only” thing, but have such supportive people all over who simply can’t go to shows because I don’t play near there! So, ever-grateful as I am that people indulge me with what I do, I’ve added them to my shop.

The Kickstart video is now released! SEE IT NOW! Immeasurable thanks to Adam Ryan who has made this video, and the wonderful people who showed up on a Saturday morning to act silly and dance. I’ve emailed you all with Kickstart download codes as a thank you. It’ll be on here first, shortly before I start begging you all like a weeping Instagram Influencer, to share it for me 😉

One note on the EP, sat on my Bandcamp. If you’ve bought something physical from me you should already have 6 of the nine tracks. The other 3, the remixes, are all being completed as I type. Thank you, Sidney Dawson, Charlie Eades and JG Stockton. I’ll be adding these soon, and you’ll then get all 9 next time you visit the site.

The launch for all this is in 2 weeks time, at The Dorothy Pax in Sheffield, some tickets still left. This will be the only show with the full band playing the Kickstart tracks and a full set, and once again its been an absolute pleasure to rehearse and record with some of my students: Estelle Varley on drums, Jamie Rupik on bass, fellow tutor Sean Ryan on guitar, Will Sandbach on synth, and Jake Austin on keys. They rock! These are never ‘pet projects’ (“ah, hope them young ‘uns do well, bless ’em” etc) They’re all in it because they’re good enough, and nice to be in a band with. And they certainly are.

Thanks, as always for the continued support for what I do, and indulging my musical whims. I absolutely appreciate it.

Matt – June 2019

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They will be available around or before the 27th June. You also get a code for the extended digital Kickstart The Empire! EP and your very own 9small) bag of Empire! See my shop for details 🙂

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I’m very excited about the ‘hometown’ album launch of my new album ‘crumbs’ for numerous reasons.

Firstly, I reckon its my best ever work. (Though I challenge you to find a band or artist that doesn’t say that as soon as they’ve finished their latest opus). Its certainly different, and a new direction for me. Now wasn’t the time to let everyone float off into an abstract world.

I’ve done much that’s different, on this album. The two bonus tracks on the CD release are versions with a full band. And the hometown launch will be my first ever UK gig with a full band. I’ll be looping for the first half, solo- something I firmly intend to keep doing as my live show. But the second half will be with a seven (of course) piece band, just to make this launch even more super-special. We’ll pretty much play the ‘crumbs’ album in full. I have to say, band rehearsals have been sodding amazing, and I can’t wait to unleash this on you all.

That I chose Friday the 13th July for the hometown album launch, and then find that the canker at the root of this album arrives on the same day…

Lastly, this event will be streamed direct into your home or device, should you so wish 🙂 More details on that soon, but we’ve already been setting up and plotting and planning for this for a while. It will be “High definition audio and video stream brought to you by Solastream” available here at www.matthowden.com – the audio will be mixed separately to the concert audio, to sound the very best it can. There will be multiple cameras, and indeed their own broadcasting satellite thingy. Sorry if I got too technical then 😉

To be at the album launch in person, buy tickets here. It would be so lovely to have you there in person. Get tickets, now! This is a unique one-off event that will be magical, for sure.
To have the concert streamed to your home (and indeed I’ll be coming over to talk to you during the performance) stay tuned for news which I’ll be announcing here soon.

Here’s a snippet of the first track I’ll be playing on the night, the first track on the album. Written with potus in mind. Its called I Will Ignore The Apocalypse:

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