Hi!

Welcome to the 37th edition of the Rowan & Friends newsletter.

next gig

This Wednesday we are playing as a trio in Manchester: Billy, Cordi and myself.

Hi!

This is the 36th edition of the Rowan & Friends newsletter.

CDs

After much wrangling, CD copies of Go On! Roll That Old Boulder Away now exist.

These come in a cardboard sleeve, with a lyrics insert (the text is really small - sorry!).

Hi!

Thanks to four days spent in a field I feel a little worse for wear this week.

But, as they say, the best cure for illness is writing your weekly newsletter on a Friday afternoon.

As mentioned in last week’s “Gig Edition”, we have a number of upcoming gigs.

Hi!

The eagle-eyed of you will have noticed this email didn’t go out at 8am this morning. And instead is going out at roughly 9:40am this Tuesday morning.

This is because I’ve been away Thursday - Monday and only just got back. And I normally write these newletters on a Friday, so I can rewrite it at a later date if I regret anything I said.

That being said. I’ve got lots of gig admin to get through and only 27 mins on the clock to type it all out. So strap in fellas.

Hi!

Last week we had the 45th Rowan & Friends at the Golden Ball. And this involved the usual singalong at the end. But also made myself and a few others making a fool out of ourselves as “The Jorvik Seinfeld Players”.

We reenacted an episode of Seinfeld called “The Ex-Girlfriend” with laugh tracks and slap bass stings all included.

The next Rowan & Friends gig will be myself playing solo keys and guitar at the Angel on The Green, York. This will be on the 13th of September. Probably about 8 or something.

Writing new songs

Hi!

This Wednesday the 26th is the 45th Rowan and Friends at the Golden Ball, in York.

Rowan & Friends are going to play music, but the rest of the night will be less-music.

First, Melanie Palmer, a brilliant local poet, is going to read some of her poems.

Hi!

I had a good week. One week ago - at the time of sending - I saw Kasper Hauser and Champion Trees for the 2nd night in a row.

I already love Kasper Hauser. I met Frankie, who writes the songs and sings most of them, at University. We were both in the experimental music group.

I’d not heard Champion Trees before. But they were excellent & perhaps even better for seeing them twice. The lyrics were particularly excellent & included a lot of stuff about God.

Following that, a few of us got talking about our religious upbringings after the gig (don’t say I don’t know how to have fun).

Hi!

We don’t have any new news this week. We are still playing at the Golden Ball on the 26th of August to continue our monthly residency.

So in lieu of no new news here are some recomendations and a recollection.

Hi!

I am writing this a day after playing the 44th Rowan and Friends at the Golden Ball.

The 45th Rowan and Friends at the Golden Ball will be on the 26th of August.

It will feature the Rowan & Friends Band, and The York Seinfeld Players performing “The Contest“, & something else that I’ve not decided yet.

This will be our next gig.

Hi!

This Wednesday we will be playing at the Golden Ball pub in York. It will be the 44th edition of our residency there.

Joining us will be York-diy-legends Troutflies & Leeds garage rockers The Fool.

The night starts at 8pm and we’ll have at least three new songs. One of which is called Country Love Song #8.

The Country Love Songs

Hi!

This is the 2nd newsletter I’m writing with a 30 minute timer, to embrace imperfection, for this doesn’t need to be a perfect thing. It just needs to communicate.

Though this week, it doesn’t seem to be going so well. As soon as I typed “2nd“ the doorbell rang and I had to take my laptop off my lap, get out the room I’m in, and go answer the door.

And actually - even before starting I had to stop to find out the details for a gig we are playing next week. Which meant going on social media. Which meant distraction.

Hi!

It has been more than two months since I last wrote a newsletter, so you might have thought that the whole Rowan & Friends band had fallen down a hole after our triumphant performance at Filey Folk Festival (1).

Although he seems to have given up on this already, I have decided to follow Kiran Leonard’s idea to set a 30 minute timer for writing a newsletter, in the hope that a newsletter might actually get sent.

I get blocked with newsletters because I make a mistake in thinking that they should do one of two things:

1. communicate some grand idea to you

2. sell you something

Hi!

In support of our latest album Go On! Roll That Old Boulder Away, we’re doing a two-week tour across England.

We’re hitting up some of our favourite spots like The Ivy House in London (23rd of April), and The Crescent in York (2nd of May).

As well as this, we are visiting some new places to us, including The Holloway in Norwich (24th of April), and The 1in12 Club in Bradford (30th of April).

Hi!

Our latest album, Go On! Roll That Old Boulder Away is out now.

For now, I’ve made the decision to only release it via Bandcamp and vinyl. I spoke about this decision in this York press article. Here’s a short extract:

“We’re really pushing self-releasing it and doing it on our terms,” says Rowan, 28, originally from Coventry. “We’re not going through all the typical platforms because I know how I want the album to be perceived, and I think having a little bit of control over that is important.”

More important than attracting a larger audience? “Yes. I do sometimes think, if I were to put it on the big streamers, I could reach more people, more people could see it, and all that.  

“But I do value the personal connection. And, in some ways, I don’t mind that people aren’t going to find us through an algorithm. I would rather they found us through either seeing us by chance at a gig or their friend telling us they should go and see us play or listen to the album.”

Hi!

Our next album is called Go On! Roll That Old Boulder Away, and it will be released on the 25th of March via direct download and Bandcamp.

You can even pre-order a vinyl copy of it now!

Hi friend,

In the toilet bowl of culture we’re all swirling in the same direction. You can’t just hang onto a bit of the porcelain that you like. You’re gonna get flushed with the rest of us.

But what if I told you (Matrix Neo Red Pill Blue Pill Moment) you don’t have to be in the toilet at all?

Thanks to a former-CEO that invests in AI war machines, the proliferation of AI slop and bots, and a really disgusting slew of other waste that I don’t have time to talk about; I - along with many others - have exited the toilet that is Spotify this year. 

And now the general consensus - at least among terminally online zillennials like myself - is that Spotify (and streaming as we know it) is on the way out.

hello everyone!

I don’t have anything smart and/or clever to say today except from : we are playing at the Golden Ball, York on the 26th of November, and I’d like to invite you all.

It’s 8pm, pay as you feel, and Joseph Futak & Katie Lou McCabe are joining us.

I’m hoping to try out some new songs with the band - so that’s something to look forward to.

hi friends,

over the last year we’ve been making our 2nd album. and as of 1 month ago it’s done.

here’s a picture of me taken by Joe Futak (our producer for this album) in our last mixing session, as proof:

5 Golden Greats is two today!

Hi!

I was rudely reminded by a calendar reminder this morning that our first EP*, 5 Golden Greats, is two years old today.

So here’s five facts about each of the five songs on that EP.

Hi!

We're back and LIVE at the GOLDEN BALL on WEDNESDAY the 24TH of SEPTEMBER at 8PM and it is PAY AS YOU FEEL.

Get ready for ROCK, get ready for ROLL, get ready for EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN*.

This will be MONUMENTAL**.

We'll be joined by Carpet all the way from LEEDS, and Sofa Sofa for their first (?) gig.***

Also getting back to my old tradition of only advertising GB gigs a week before they happen - how FUN!

This is also a de facto single launch for “I’ve Been Thinking About Jesus“., I guess.