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RIP Gow Hunter 1960-2011

Gow Hunter

Sad news this evening. The striking-looking actor and dancer featured in Kate’s 1986 video for her Hounds of Love single, Gow Hunter, has passed away yesterday at the age of just 51. A choreographer and dancer,  Gow had been living in Tokyo since 2007 and recently published several photography books.

UPDATE 2012: Kate posted on her official site about Gow and details of a charity sponsored walk in his memory:

Sponsored Walk – In Gow Hunter’s Memory – Earlier this month Karen Stripp took part in a sponsored walk to raise money for the Hampstead Marie Curie Hospice in memory of Gow Hunter. Although Karen has now completed the walk she is still accepting donations on her Just Giving Page available here. All proceeds will be donated to the Marie Curie Cancer Charity. In light of such a worthy cause and in memory of such a wonderful person Kate also wanted to add…

I’m so very sad to hear the news about Gow. He was a lovely man and such fun to work with as the male star in the video for “Hounds Of Love”. He really had the face of a great film star. He was just brilliant. Congratulations to Karen on the success of her walk and wishing her every success in raising funds. It’s such a lovely thing to do. Best wishes, Kate

Kate Bush 2012

From his official biography: “Trained in classical ballet Gow danced with various ballet companies and continued with diverse and challenging work in Television, Video, Film, Theatre and Opera. He has been very fortunate to live and work in many different countries….Paris, Rome, Geneva, Seoul, London to name a few and work with very talented performers/directors such as Kate Bush, Placido Domingo, David Bailey and Robert Lepage. After a successful career as a professional dancer Gow was accepted into Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design where he completed a B.A (Hons) degree in Textile Design. His designs have been seen on the catwalks of London Fashion week, solo exhibitions and his own label of knitted textile accessories. Gow has always had a passion for anything creative and photography has always been one of his most inspiring pastimes. Gow lives in Tokyo since 2007 and spends much of his time taking pictures of Japan and is beginning to fulfill his lifetime passion of photography.”

Sending our sincere thoughts and condolences to his loved ones.

Gow Hunter and Kate Bush - video still photo by John Carder Bush

In the video below, you can enjoy again Gow’s beautiful performance as the wrongly accused man in Kate’s Hitchcock-inspired promotional film for Hounds of Love. It is hard to imagine anyone more perfect in this role. Stunning.

Catch-up #3 Paddy Bush plays on new Colin Lloyd Tucker album!

Colin Lloyd Tucker - new album Inner NutshellExcited about this as a) we haven’t heard much musically from Paddy for a bit, and b) Colin is rather excellent! Paddy is guesting on Colin Lloyd Tucker’s new album, ‘Inner Nutshell‘, more than two years in the making. The album is out now! Hear the album and read more about Colin here. For any ‘newbies’ Colin and Paddy collaborated as ‘Bushtucker’ many moons ago on the album Skyscraping. Colin also appears on The Red Shoes album. You can read about him working with Kate here. (many thanks to Ian for the update)

 

The Sensual Walk is a big success :)

The Sensual Walk 2011Well, our event on Howth Head went brilliantly on Saturday – we had sunshine (despite grim weather predictions) and a happy crowd enjoyed the cliff walk before we headed into Dublin for a superb night of live music. Thanks a million to the Prairie Dawgs, Jeroen Saegeman, Richer than Astronauts, Mike Stevens, Carol Keogh and Band and Captain A. Kate songs covered through out the night included The Man With The Child In His Eyes, Cloudbusting, King of the Mountain,  Hello Earth, Running Up That Hill, Hounds of Love, Wow, Babooshka and Army Dreamers, exceptional performances all. Thanks to all who attended and to Thomas Dunning for supplying the Georgian chanting!

Related plug: If you are in Dublin this coming Saturday, June 25th, you’ll be able to see two of The Sensual Walk performers take part in the all-day Popical Island event in which they launch their follow-up to the exceptionally popular compilation that this Dublin collective released last year. More details on that event at Whelans from 2.30pm is here. Listen below to the track Anne’s Birthday from Groom featuring our friends Mike and Jeroen, from the Popical Island II CD. Enjoy!

[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/popical_island/06-groom-annes-birthday”]

New Canadian interview, plus Marianne Faithfull praises Kate!

We’ll have a full North American Director’s Cut round up soon, apologies for the slow down in updates, it’s been busy! Kate gives yet another new interview to the national Canadian weekly magazine Macleans, here.  Among other things they discuss the track Lily “….based on one of her real-life heroines, the late Lily Cornford, a noted spiritual healer in London with whom Bush became close friends in the ’90s. “She was one of those very rare people who are intelligent, intuitive and kind,” she says of Cornford, who believed in mental colour healing—a process whereby patients would be restored to health by seeing various hues. “I was really moved by Lily and impressed with her strength and knowledge, so it led to a song—which she thought was hilarious.

Lily

The interviewer, Elio Iannacci, also spoke to singer Marianne Faithfull about Kate: “On the phone from Paris, famous fan Marianne Faithfull notes that Bush’s four-octave range should be regarded as a “national treasure.” “My favorite instrument in the whole world is the human female voice, and Kate Bush is one of the reasons why. It is, by far, a Stradivarius,” Faithfull says. “Which is why she rarely deals with the press or isn’t in a rush to record. She’s one of the few who can be above all that.”

New Beck Sian and Syd Arthur gigs added

We have added new dates for Beck Sian and Syd Arthur to our gig guide.

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Beck’s current album is available on Amazon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sample Syd Arthur’s new EP Moving World here.

 

 

 

George Michael tweets Deeper Understanding!

George Michael on plugs Kate on Twitter

Noel Fielding dances Wuthering Heights! (and Kate wishes him luck!)

Noel Fielding Wuthering Heights

A personal dream come true for me, the wonderful comedian Noel Fielding (The Mighty Boosh) has danced to Wuthering Heights in the BBC charity programme “Let’s Dance for Comic Relief.” The studio panel has rightly voted Noel’s performance as Kate through to the final on March 12th! We will be providing voting links for the final when they happen. There’s not much more to say except: enjoy the clip and please consider donating to Comic Relief, one of Kate’s favourite charities, here.

And here is Kate’s message to Noel:

“Hi Noel, it’s Kate here. I really love your work and I just want to wish you luck for tonight. Break a leg. Well, actually no, no… don’t break a leg. Just win baby, WIN!”

Sadly the Youtube clip of Kate’s message seems to have disappeared: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UZ49nvm364

Press already: Metro, UnrealityTV, Chortle.

As an apparent consequence of this, Wuthering Heights is now at no.2 in the iTunes Rock Songs Chart for 28th February 2011.

Here’s a longer clip with intro and judges comments:

Syd Arthur prepare for new EP release!

Regular visitors to this site give us much feedback on our promotion of the creative work of not just Kate but also those closest to Kate; Paddy, John and Del. One of the of the most interesting connections that we’ve picked up on in the last few years has been the journey of Syd Arthur – a band based in Canterbury, England, that features Kate’s nephew Raven (John Carder’s son) on fiddle. With a very distinctive sound the band have built on earlier successes and are justifiably proud of their impressive new Moving World EP. Pre-order it here. We recommend you get it.

Here’s a taster of the EP:

Moving World EP Teaser by Syd Arthur

The band is four Canterbury-based devotees of sound immersed in the simple pleasures of songwriting, performance and their abilities for exploratory improvisational musical interplay.  Live, the band has been together since 2006.  On record, it all starts from here.

Syd Arthur’s intricate, high-energy live sets have been what the band are founded on, and over the past 5 years they have created a large following on the underground scene across the South of England, Europe and beyond.  Festival veterans, the band have played from Glastonbury to the Secret Garden and back.  Summer solstices and green gatherings number against self-funded UK tours and trips to pretty much every country in Europe.  With the level of live recognition so far to simply pigeonhole Syd Arthur as an underground act is something of a mistake.  This is an accomplished live band looking to make a further stamp on a music industry there for the taking.

Syd Arthur

As with all great live bands, capturing a definitive take on record is always a challenge, one that up until recently the band have neglected to take on.  But in 2009 the band began the task of setting up Wicker Studios, their own self-funded studio space on the outskirts of southeast London. Greatly inspired by the sonic pioneers of the late 60s and early 70s, they patiently learned how to engineer, produce and mix themselves, using an innovative hybrid of analogue and digital techniques.

Not alone in their plight, the band have found themselves at the heart of an exciting new music scene bubbling away in the Canterbury area.  United by an encouraging spirit of cooperation and mutual support, together with a shared love of (among others) Soft Machine, electric Miles, Eno, Can, Zappa, Beefheart, Fela Kuti, King Crimson and Sun Ra, several bands have developed strong ties.  The `Furthur Productions’ collective, of which Syd Arthur have been an integral part, has provided the ideal platform for this scene, forging a uniquely `organic’ aesthetic and experimenting with immersive audio-visual environments and hybrid analogue lightshows.  Several of these new Canterbury bands were also brought in to record at Wicker Studios.  And so a record label was born.  On 28th March 2011, the Dawn Chorus Recording Co. will release its first creation, Syd Arthur’s Moving World EP.

Recorded in an intensively creative week at the end of 2010, the tracks on Moving World represent the most powerful possible expression of the band’s potential up to this point. To liken Moving World to the original `Canterbury scene’ artists like Soft Machine, Caravan, and Hatfield and the North is an easy starter, but this is what the Canterbury Sound artists might have come up with had they grown up with an extra 30-40 years of music history culture, WOMAD festivals and the entire world’s musical output at their fingertips rather than just blues, jazz and R&B records.  Here, Syd Arthur exhibit a genuine merging of worlds, rather than a forced or contrived `world fusion’ music.

Raven Bush

Raven Bush

And this is just the beginning! Syd Arthur’s debut album is currently being recorded.  Dawn Chorus Recording Co. plans to release an album a month from artists including Zoo For You, Rae and The Boot Lagoon from April onwards.  And each of the bands have their own busy live schedules to promote.  The time for Syd Arthur to rise up and be taken notice of is now!

Facebook / Twitter and Myspace links at: http://www.sydarthur.co.uk/

Kate signs limited edition Aerial ‘Soundwaves’ art prints (exclusive site discount)

Tim Wakefield - Soundwaves print of the Kate Bush song Aerial - signed by the artist and Kate Bush

Tim Wakefield – Soundwaves print of the Kate Bush song Aerial – signed by the artist and Kate Bush

Kate has chosen the title song from the Aerial album to be interpreted by UK artist Tim Wakefield in one of his highly collectible “Soundwaves” artworks. The resulting prints, described as stunning artworks created from digital images formed in the recording process,  sample a section of the song. Wakefield listens to the music, the lyrics and the tempo of the song to decide what colours and shapes he’s looking for before presenting them to the music artist. He has devised a technique to enlarge and customise these images, transforming them into lar

Dimensions: Print Size 660mm X 660mm Medium: Archival Digital Print On Paper Limited Edition: 50 Worldwide (Please note: the actual prints do not feature the ‘Soundwaves’ watermark as seen above)

The prints are available to purchase from St Pauls Gallery here. The gallery is exclusively offering our site visitors a 10% discount. The discount code is WTOYT154 (case sensitive). Interested buyers can put this code in the ‘get discount’ box then press ‘recalculate’ at check out. This will apply the katebushnews.com discount.

There is a limited run of 50 ‘Aerial’ prints worldwide, each one hand-signed by Kate and Tim Wakefield, and individually hand-numbered. They are sold in co-operation with the Nordoff Robbins charity, which brings music’s transforming power to children and adults in need, through the delivery of music therapy services, music and health projects and community music projects, as well as education programmes and research. Other artists who have taken part in the Soundwaves charity project include Sir Paul McCartney, George Michael, Pink Floyd, The Bee Gees, The Killers, Tina Turner and Kings Of Leon. Recently, all four members of Abba signed Soundwaves prints based on their music.

Theo Bleckmann Reinterprets Kate Bush

Theo Bleckmann

Jazzonline writes: “We recently ran a post about jazz singer Theo Bleckmann and his brilliant concert of the songs of underrated British pop artist & songwriter Kate Bush. Our partner site boomitude.com also ran a similar post on this colorful project. Working in conjunction withboomitude, we contacted Theo and asked him to share the evolution of his amazing project which he eloquently does on the podcast below. Listen as Theo speaks of his inspiration which only further illustrates the beauty of these special works…both his and hers.” Read the full article here.

Mick Karn 1958-2011

Mick Karn

Stephen Humphries writes: Mick Karn, the great bassist for Japan whose fretless instrument graced Kate’s The Sensual World (Heads We’re Dancing), as well as records by Gary Numan and Joan Armatrading, died today. His website stated: It’s with profound sadness that we have to inform you that Mick finally lost his battle with cancer and passed away peacefully at 4.30pm today, 4th January 2011 at home in Chelsea, London. He was surrounded by his family and friends and will be deeply missed by all. http://www.mickkarn.net/

Our sincere condolences to his loved ones.

UPDATE: Del Palmer has left his thoughts in the comment section of this article below.

John Taylor from Duran Duran leaves his tribute here. Mick had worked on recording sessions for Aerial in 2002, and even gave fans the intriguing first new title we learned of, namely “How To Be Invisible”, but ultimately his work on the track didn’t make it to the final album mix. I think the first time Karn played bass for Kate was at the Prince’s Trust performance in 1982 (here’s a video, with Karn’s distinctive bass sound very prominent in the mix).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8WNeb_Lg9A[/youtube]

From the vaults: Kate and Big Country – 1986

Here’s one of the best ever examples of Kate supplying backing vocals on another artist’s recordings. Kate singing on Big Country’s “The Seer” from 1986. Lead vocals from the late Stuart Adamson. Well worth a re-visit.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak_xffwrIfA[/youtube]

Chicago Kate Bush tribute night

Chicago Kate Bush tribute night

Thomas tells us about an upcoming tribute night in Chicago on November 30th: December will be magic! The music of Kate Bush and the artists she has influenced. Also, Kate Bush “Performs!”. Dan Bridgens and Mario Bucca in their drag debut!

W/ Djs Belazauberin, Joshua, Tiger Lily (PROCESSION)
& Guest Dj Peroxide (Bittersweet)

Late Bar 3534 W. Belmont Ave, 10pm-4am November 30th 2010

21+ No Cover
Website: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=177077385643146

Chicago Press Release Services

Brian Bath page added

Here’s a chance to catch up on the music of another legend heavily associated with Kate…we’ve added a Brian Bath page to the features section here. Del Palmer has popped by to leave a comment about his friend there too. I’ll always remember Brian’s trippy cartoons from the early KBC newsletters, fans of those drawings will love the look of his Myspace page, link to that in our new page also. Check it out.

Del Palmer and Brian Bath

Del Palmer and Brian Bath in the early days

Paper Crows – Cloudbusting cover

London duo, Paper Crows (Emma Panas and Duncan McDougall), have released an inspired cover of Cloudbusting which uses instrumental elements of Björk’s Human Behaviour, and it gets a big thumbs up from me – this instantly gets into my Top 5 best ever Kate covers! (thanks to Kyle for the tip from this blog post)

Paper Crows

Paper Crows – Cloudbusting by The Big Beat

More on Paper Crows at their Myspace page.

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