At long last, we’re thrilled to be able to offer The Pros and Cons of Eating Out via the website. Pre-orders are now being accepted. You can get to the pre-order page via the Shop.
To summarise briefly, you can buy three versions:
standard CD (£10 plus P&P)
standard + bonus CD bundle (£16 plus P&P)
limited edition box set [SOLD OUT]
There’s a lot of information about the three album formats – not to mention plenty of pictures, of course - in the pre-order page, but if anything’s unclear please leave us a comment and we’ll respond here and/or update the page.
The Original Sins bonus CD was a last-minute addition to the box set, only floated just over two weeks ago, sparked by the discovery of ‘thought to be lost’ demo material! We then took the decision to also make it available in a bundle.
There are nineteen copies of the limited box set available; the twentieth is reserved for a charity auction at a later stage. PayPal is supposed to stop any more than that being sold. We’ve not used this feature before and hope it works!
Both the box set and bundle are available exclusively from us. We’ll be selling the bundle at gigs too (including next weekend’s album launches in London and Medway), but for practical reasons the box set is only available via mail order.
We have so much more to say about this album. Next week we’ll be telling you about the album’s titles, themes and artwork. We’ll also tell you a little more about the Original Sins CD, whose full track listing is found in the Releases page.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on the pre-ordering process throughout Friday and will respond to questions and comments as quickly as possible. Orders will be dispatched as soon as we can draw breath, almost certainly before release day.
That’s all! I think. I hope. Time to press Publish and see what happens… Hg x
So, here we go… we’ll be announcing pre-order availability of The Pros and Cons of Eating Out here on the website at 9am sharp (UK time) on Friday morning.
The album will be available in three different physical formats, including the limited edition box set that you’ve been reading about over the past few weeks.
More information on Friday. All we can say at this stage is that there are several very good reasons for you to order as quickly as possible. All will become apparent.
See you back here on Friday… we hope. In the meantime, you can use the clever Amazon widgety thing above to preview extracts of every single album track.
Busy bees sailing Crooked seas with restless ease… we trust you’ve spotted that the gig listing has expanded over the past few days. We’ll be announcing further dates very shortly. More immediately, we have a couple of album launch nights coming up in both London and Medway in a fortnight’s time. If you’re in either area, it’d be great to see you there.
First up, The Flowerpot in Kentish Town on Friday 1st October. This is a free event at one of London’s most popular music venues. We’ll be selling copies of the new album three days ahead of the official release date. A night of laid-back intensity… no support acts, just pure Crooked fun and mayhem. Stage time is fluid, get there early. Venue opens 5pm!
The Beacon Court Tavern gig on Saturday 2nd October will be particularly special. This is a “Crooked Family Presents…” night, which we’re curating and promoting ourselves. We’re thrilled to be joined by The Singing Loins, The Sans Pareil and The Flowing, all of whom we’re sure you’ll enjoy. Again, spread the word and get there early.
More information on why you should pay attention to these acts below. If you can’t make either of these evenings, keep an eye on the gig listings for further events in your area. Fans in the south-west of England, in particular, should be feeling very happy in the coming days. In other news, final decisions on album pre-ordering are imminent. Stay tuned, B sharp… x
We’ve got a small virtual mountain of video footage recorded at festivals and gigs over the past few months. Plans are afoot and in hand to make good use of it in varying forms. Here’s the closing song of the Latitude set, Hour Glass, which also appears on the new album. x
We’ve mentioned bits in passing over the past couple of months, but now it’s time to formally announce that the third, long-awaited Lupen Crook album – The Pros and Cons of Eating Out – will be released on Monday October 4th 2010.
The album will be released on Beast Reality Records and will be available from both mainstream and indie UK music shops (via Shellshock distribution), online (mail order & download) and of course direct from the Crooked Family at gigs.
The CD version of the album will be released in a digipack based on some characteristically uncompromising artwork. As Mr Crook mentioned the other day, the original printers refused to handle it and we had to seek a last-minute alternative.
We won’t spoil the surprise for now. The digipack will be enclosed in a slipcase featuring the “puzzled heart” design above. There will also be a poster in the digipack containing artwork on one side and full lyrics for all songs on the other.
The track listing is as follows:
Fantasist In March
Will O The Wisp
Sleeping Lions
Dorothy Deserves
World’s End
Devil’s Son
Lest We Connect The Crooked Family
Scissor Kick
Pirate’s Wife
How To Murder Birds
Hour Glass
Ode To Fucking Everyone
Mr Crook has already mentioned the work he’s been doing on the limited edition box set version of the album. There will only be twenty of these. More to follow on this over the next week so, including fuller details of exactly what it contains.
We’ll be keeping you updated on a regular basis. Next step is to make the album available to you on pre-order. Keep those eyes peeled… x
Liveblogging in effect… We’re in Camden on a sunny Friday afternoon. Bruce & I have repaired to the Lockside Lounge for sustenance and wi-fi access while Mr Crook mans the first ever attempt at hawking our Crooked wares via market stall.
Releases, t-shirts and bags are available, but the main thrust is the (relatively) new Can’t Bear merchandise (postcards and greetings cards), which some of you have already seen at gigs. We’ll be making them available via the website very shortly.
We have video footage from our trip to Latitude that will one day be edited and will see the light of day. At the moment, it’s all hands on deck to get the album out.
Yes, at last the album has an almost-finalised release date of 4th October. We have until the end of the next week to turn that into a beastly reality.
In the meantime, here’s some great footage that we spotted on YouTube of Dorothy Deserves at Latitude. Thanks to Nige for shooting and uploading it. x
The band plays this Sunday at the Old Blue Last in Shoreditch. Nearest tube station is Old Street (10 min walk), or you can use the new-fangled Overground line to Shoreditch High Street (5 min walk).
Supports come from Medway’s Archie Wah Wahs and Dalston’s The Sans Pareil (who those of you with long memories might remember supporting the band at 93 Feet East a couple of years ago).
One of the most consistently fascinating aspects of any form of art – musical or otherwise – is its potential for limitless re-interpretation by different individuals. Arguably, the multi-genre, multi-dimensional nature of this band’s music makes it fertile territory for this type of exploration.
Dave Wise and I filmed a video for Devil’s Son a couple of weeks ago. From the results, I created a relatively straightforward (by our standards) “promo” type video with an overtly grunge-punk vibe, aiming to demonstrate what the band looks like in a live performance environment.
Dave has created an alternative version with a very different feel. Responses are clearly a personal thing, but I’m viewing this in an arthouse, film noir tradition. It’s Gothic in the original sense, reminiscent of Edgar Allen Poe and Fritz Lang. It’s maybe a little bit “music Goth” too!
You might also be interested in this Dazed & Confused interview with Crooked Family photographer Jenny Hardcore, in which she explains her recent photo shoot at an abandoned asylum outside London. Her post-production work on these shots was inspired by The Mrs‘ artwork.
