VIA PRESS RELEASE | Wendy James, who releases her new album The Shape Of History on 25th October, has today confirmed a two-week long instore tour, taking in appearances at London’s Rough Trade East and Assai Records in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Written, produced and mixed by James and recorded in West London and New York City, The Shape Of History is her tenth album and will be available digitally, on deluxe vinyl and via deluxe CD.
“I am so excited to be out on the road again! This time to introduce everyone to the songs on my 10th Album The Shape Of History fittingly as an in-store tour of the UK. Venues which are near and dear to my heart! Record Shops!! Every one of these venues takes pride in delivering music to their customers, introducing new music, re-issuing music gone by and in my case… the culmination of a 10-album odyssey which began in 1986 when I co-formed Transvision Vamp!”
“It’s been a helluva journey, I have consistently delivered music without compromise, music I am so proud of and that I cherish, and of course, it’s the fans who’ve sustained me, built me up, been loyal to me and come on the journey with me. It means so much to me! It’s going to be a brilliant evening! I’ll play some new tunes from The Shape Of History and I’ll also play a selection from each of my albums! I’ll intersperse the music with conversation and questions from the audience, all unprompted!! So it should be a fun and lively night, rounding up at the merch desk where I will sign and personalise for everyone who’s bought something of mine, and take photos too! I cannot wait to see you all!!”
OCTOBER
Fri 25th – Newcastle, Beyond Vinyl (Evening)
Sat 26th – Edinburgh, Assai (Daytime)
Sat 26th – Glasgow, Assai (Evening)
Sun 27th – Nottingham, Rough Trade (Evening)
Mon 28th – Liverpool, Rough Trade (Evening)
Tues 29th – Bristol, Rough Trade (Evening)
Weds 30th – London, Rough Trade East (Evening)
Thurs 31st – Portsmouth, Pie & Vinyl (Daytime)
Thurs 31st – Gosport, A Slice of Vinyl (Evening)
NOVEMBER
Fri 1st – Southampton, Vinilo (Evening)
Sat 2nd – Kingston Upon Thames, Banquet (Late Afternoon)
Sun 3rd – Oxford, Truck (Late Afternoon)
Mon 4th – Marlborough, Sound Knowledge (Evening)
Tues 5th – Leeds, Crash (Evening)
Weds 6th – Preston, Action Records (Evening)
BUY TICKETS HERE
VIP PASSES HERE
“I grew up, musically, in the age of the sequencer,” reflects Wendy. “There was Transvision Vamp and there was Sigue Sigue Sputnik and we were both drawn into the future by Ridley Scott’s movie Bladerunner. The futuristic, seedy glamour, the overcrowded Chinatown and the high, high skyscrapers, where the masters of the universe observed and policed down below. Mixed in with that: Polanski’s movie Frantic, Beineix’s movie Diva, European dark electro and Klaus Nomi’s “The Cold Song.” I wrote “Freedomsville” on guitar like all my songs. My mixing engineer Jesse Nichols couldn’t believe how unchanged the recording was from the guide and yet how much sound and arrangement had been created. In the end, I didn’t use sequencers at all, it’s all real humans playing very rhythmically on repeat for six minutes straight.”
“My songwriting has always been a wide mix of sounds, which naturally reflect the different music and references I have and love. My sweet spot is mid-late ’70s downtown NYC New Wave Punk: CBGB and Max’s Kansas City. It is from this sound that my taste for sequenced and dark NY and Euro electro and no-wave evolves. The Shape Of History was recorded on Scrubs Lane, West London with Alex Ward, Harry Bohay, and James Sclavunos. I then went off to NYC and Brooklyn to record the pianos and organs with Dave ‘The Moose’ Sherman. Overdubbing continued with Al Lawson at the engineering helm in his Shepherd’s Bush studio and then I went back to Berkeley, CA to mix with Jesse Nichols before mastering with Fred Kevorkian in Brooklyn NY. I have spent so much time with this music, I know it note-for-note and I love it and I am so happy for you to now make it your own”.
“The Shape Of History has a lot about love in it, a lot about appreciation of oneself, one’s life and importantly, of others. It is life’s arc of starting out, blooming into something and in some ways maturing. I don’t think my music has got older, I know I’ve not gone mellow! My attitude can be more ferocious and fearless than ever, but there is an acquired wisdom, which naturally comes after having been alive for a few decades! The Shape Of History is a love letter and a Thank you note to life so far. The culmination of my tenth album is the result of co-musicians and engineers who I’ve worked with previously and with whom I share a language. We know each other, we choose to work together. We enjoy each other’s talent and personalities. There is a happiness, a belonging, when we meet up, and an open and determined desire to achieve what we know we have to.”
“From meeting Nick Christian Sayer and forming Transvision Vamp, the two of us walking into EMI Records and demanding to see the head of Artists and Repertoire, Dave Ambrose. Getting signed and making our hits of the late ’80s and ’90s. From collaborating with Elvis Costello and mixing that album at Sunset Sound in Hollywood where The Stones mixed Exile On Main St., then moving to NYC to start writing and recording as a solo artist, all the gigs I’ve played and the friends I’ve made around the world, the astounding, incredible, wonderful people whose lives I’ve crossed paths with… I am so grateful for it all.”
