The Vagaband Drops Third Album 16 March
By: Stephi Wild Mar. 06, 2018
The Vagaband release their third album, Something Wicked This Way Comes on 16 March 2018 on CD and download via Eggsong Recordings, distributed by Shellshock and published by Wipe Out Music.
Something Wicked This Way Comes is a collection of tracks brimming with narrative and atmosphere. Wide-screen Americana where the ghosts of carnies and the Wild West collide with New Orleans jazz, folk, blues and beyond. Yet there's also a more home-spun sound at work here too, the hook-laden melodies and a gritty soulful feel that evokes a golden era of British rock. Think Americana meets The Beatles' White Album.
Coming in at a fraction over 40 minutes, the perfect length for an album, the record marks a significant raising of the bar for the band, both musically and lyrically.
Pedal steel guitar legend BJ Cole was moved to enthuse 'I've been a huge fan of the Vagaband and their leader Jose McGill, ever since the release of their first album, 'Town & Country'. With the release of 'Something Wicked This Way Comes', they are they are right up there with the best of their contemporaries.'
Recorded during the political heat of 2016 and 2017, a sense of foreboding flows through the ten tracks. There are satirical jibes (the title track), comic cynicism (Spiritual Man), epic ambient rockers (An Eye For An Eye which features a stunning guest vocal from Yve Mary Barwood of Morganway) and full frontal assaults (Not My Day To Die).
Vagaband singer/guitarist José McGill said 'This album is about American cultural imperialism on our own turf. 'Black Friday', cinema, our fixation on US politics - it's all around us. We're becoming the UK of A.'
'The sound of this album embraces the music of America but retains a British pride. In 'There'll Only Be One Elvis' I'm singing about Costello NOT Presley. This makes me chuckle.'
The Vagaband are a UK-based roots rock band. Equipped with an impressive and varied array of instrumentation (pedal-steel guitar, flugelhorn, mandolin, fiddle and clarinet all blend with unexpected ease) the band draw inspiration from both sides of the Atlantic to incorporate Americana, Celtic folk rock and vaudeville into a whole that gels into an unmistakable sound of their own.
In 2013 they were listed in The Alternate Root's poll of top 20 New Roots Bands of Europe. 2014 saw the release of their highly-praised second album 'Medicine For The Soul'. In 2015, U.S. band Ween asked the band to remix material from their Chocolate & Cheese album, announcing the result as 'genius'. Since then the band have signed a publishing deal with Wipe Out Music and have shared festival stages with the likes of The Handsome Family, Fairport Convention and Dodgy.
The Vagaband are:
- José McGill: vocals & guitar
- Greg Cook: piano
- Patrick Arbuthnot: pedal steel guitar
- Dan Reynolds: drums
- Ali Houiellebecq: saxes, clarinet, flute & whistle
- Tristan Roche: bass
- Hugh Stanners: flugelhorn, trumpet & squeezebox
- Noel Dashwood: dobro & harmonica
- Joe 'The Bow' Wright: fiddle & mandolin
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