EUROPEAN TOUR 2010

Hi all,

Thanks to everyone who came out for our tenth birthday! We had an excellent time and really, really enjoyed ourselves. Thanks too to Ed Wood Jr and Fresh Eyes for the Dead Guy, both of whom threatened to blow us off the stage, and to all of you who indulged in munching cake, stomping on balloons and letting off pathetically weak party poppers. Left Lion have written a very kind review of the night here.

But now! We are about to depart these shores for some excitement (and 2,000-odd miles) in the continent, visiting France, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany:

SOUVARIS EUROPEAN JAUNT NO.4

Friday 22 October | Liege, BE | La Zone
Saturday 23 October | Nancy, FR | Le Coup De Monocle
Sunday 24 October | Freiburg, DE | White Rabbit Club
Monday 25 October | Zurich, CH | Boschbar
Tuesday 26 October | Day off
Wednesday 27 October | Lyon, FR | Le Sonic
Thursday 28 October | Bordeaux, FR | Le Nouveau Locale
Friday 29 October | Day off

Saturday 30 October | Le Havre, FR | McDaid's
Sunday 31 October | Arrive home for for a nice cup of tea

As you can see, we have a couple of days off due to impending shows having to be cancelled. If you live anywhere near where we're likely to be (between Zurich and Lyon, and Bordeaux and Le Havre), and fancy having a sweaty sextet of young Englishmen take you out for a beer/play your front porch/crash on your sofa, please get in touch! Currently we're planning on investigating vinyards and avoiding getting caught up in riots. Fun! Email: ichbinsimmo@gmail.com.

To soundtrack this momentous occasion, our fourth (and most ambitious) European tour, we have prepared a load of mixtapes to soundtrack our glorious travels/counter terminal boredom encountered by spending 50% of each day in a smelly van. Here's a random slice of goodness for you - it's not very representative of our collective tastes (we argue about music all the time - it's one of the reasons we've stayed together), but more of what my (David's) aural receptors have been getting off on in recent weeks. Named in honour of a random pronouncement by Nick of Chameleon infamy, we present you with...

"Just Get Me A... Mermaid" - A Souvaris Mixtape
1. Leftfield feat. Afrika Bambaataa - Africa Shox
2. Sir Lord Baltimore - Master Heartache
3. Disco Inferno - It's a Kid's World
4. The Para-monts - I Don't Want To Lose You
5. Grouper - Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping
6. W. John Ondolo - Tumshukuru Mungu
7. Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou - Mother's Love
8. Gavin Bryars - Raising the Titanic (Big Drum Mix)
9. PJ Harvey - The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore
10. Harvey Milk - I Do No Know How To Live My Life
11. Speed, Glue & Shinki - Mr Walking Drugstore Man
12. Shorty - Coopie and Me
13. Daft Punk - Around the World
14. The Jesus Lizard - Boilermaker
15. Pumice - Pumiceraft
16. Mike Hanapi's Ilima Islanders - Hilo Hula

Enjoy!

Dirty Egg

This Is England '86 was the only thing on TV this year worth taking the time to watch. If you agree, or even if you don't, you might enjoy this little nugget: hot off the press, it's a short film a friend of ours made, with some familiar faces and soundtrack. Choose between your favourite streaming content provider below...

YOUTOOB:


VIMEO:

Oh, and...

NOTTINGHAM RESIDENTS: Don't forget about our 10th birthday shenanigans, as detailed below! And if you've already bought your tickets for Melt Banana (and let's face it, who wouldn't?), you can see them then get into our gig just in time to see us close out the night for ONLY THREE QUID. Wahey!

SOUVARIS IS: TEN

Woot woot and word up.

In exactly one week's time we will have finished blowing sound down your earholes at the distinctly impressive Nottingham Contemporary - look, there's even a proper webpage and poster and everything here: http://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/event/music-exchange-present-souvaris.

Then you might have noticed that we're heading off for our holidays in late October, stopping off in Belgium, France, Germany and Switzerland for some quality shows (and Luxembourg for some cheap petrol, no doubt). But what are we going to do inbetween?

Oh yeah, it's only our MOTHERFLIPPING TENTH BIRTHDAY.

Yeesh, we've been pissing away our spare time, money and hearing on this shit for a decade now. Just think what much more productive things we could have done in the meantime. So what are we going to do to celebrate? Well, throw a fucking cool party, of course! We've invited some pals to play, and, heck, we'll even make some noise ourselves (and probably a load of different songs to the Contemporary gig). Simmo and Helene have been fantastic enough actual humans to organise a swanky Saturday night out for you all:
That's Saturday 16th October, at Chameleon, Nottingham.
SOUVARIS (Gringo, UK)
ED WOOD JR (Lille, FR)
FRESH EYES FOR THE DEAD GUY
...STOP EJECT
£5 / DOORS 8.30pm

Clique Clack is delighted to invite you to a warm-up show for Souvaris' upcoming European tour. In the spirit of international exchange, Ed Wood Jr from Lille, France will be representing the froggy side of the Entente Cordiale. Add a couple of local rock behemoths to the proceedings in the form of Fresh Eyes For The Dead Guy and Stop Eject, and you have yourselves quite in evening indeed! Mmmmmm.

Full details at http://www.facebook.com/?sk=events#!/event.php?eid=153931577958482

See you there! Bring cake. It's gonna get messy.

October 2010 Excitement: EUROPEAN TOUR 2010

Ho!

For the fourth time, the lumbering post-rock behemoth known only as "Souvaris" (apart from that time we were billed as "The Savouries", but let's not get into that one...) will plant all four paws firmly onto the continent and belt around Western European for a series of concerts across a few of our favourite places. Here's where we're orf to for our October holidays:

Friday 22 October | Liege, BE | La Zone
Saturday 23 October | Nancy, FR | Le Coup De Monocle (our favourite wine bar)
Sunday 24 October | Freiburg, DE | White Rabbit Club
Monday 25 October | Zurich, CH | Boschbar
Tuesday 26 October | Lyon, FR | super-secret activity that we couldn't possibly tell you about
Wednesday 27 October | Lyon, FR | Le Sonic (a boat! woo!)
Thursday 28 October | Bordeaux, FR | Le Nouveau Locale
Friday 29 October | La Roche Sur Yon, FR | Venue TBA

Saturday 30 October | Le Havre, FR | McDaid's
Sunday 31 October | Arrive home for for a nice cup of tea

Yup, that's 4 countries in 9 days! And about 3,000-odd kilometres to cover. Our trusty driver Jim "Thing One" Alexander is already in training and licking his lips in anticipation.

So come join us at a show if you feel so inclined (and live anywhere nearby)! We'll post some details about door times, prices and some of the lowlifes we'll be sharing a stage soon.

The live comeback: Thurs 30th Sept, Nottingham Contemporary

Alright, told you we were going to do something special for our first live show in 2010. Obligatory Friendface event page here (invite yourself!), or read the details below:


The Music Exchange Live and Prefab Kraut presents SOUVARIS
Date: Thursday 30th September
Time: 19:00 - 23:00 (band plays at 21:00ish)
Venue: Nottingham Contemporary Cafe
Price: FREE (Record and CD donations gratefully received)

"Having not played in this city since the launch of their split album w/Sincabeza - "Clown Jazz" (Gringo Records), we're all looking forward to this show. http://www.myspace.com/souvaris
Exchange DJs Joey Bell and AntrØnhY 7pm onwards."

That's right, we've got the whole night to ourselves and we'll be the only band playing. So see you at the bar! God knows what we're going to play or how long we're going to play for, but if we play every song we've ever written we'll be on for at least 3 and a half hours. So we won't be doing that. Any requests (including joke cover versions)?

European tour and random mixtapes details coming soon.

WE'RE NOT DEAD

...we've just been sleeping. But fret not! Aaron is freshly returned from his jaunt around India, Nepal and god knows where else and we are all finally back in the same city for the first time since January. On the agenda for future activity:

1. Gigs in September/October. Another European tour. Oh yes.
2. Practising like motherfuckers for said gigs.
3. Editing and mixing the elusive third album. Yes, we've been working on this one for months. No, it's not nearly finished yet. Yes, we will probably play exclusively songs from it at gigs. Unless you ask us nicely to play something old that you like.
4. Frantically trying to remember how to play old songs that people like so that we don't piss everyone off.
5. Mixtapes! Not sure why, but they'll keep us sane on tour. And we might make some copies for you. Dave has already compiled 5 hours' worth of tat for your dubious listening pleasure.
   

More soon, including confirmation of aforementioned promised gigs. Anyone want to put us on in London? Or northern Italy?

FIVE LADS WHO SHOOK THE WIRRAL

Ooh! Well, it only took us ten years. We finally have a real press shot! Four of them, even. We are enormously indebted to the exceptional Steve Gullick, who took these shots of us at our most earnest and sweaty at Chameleon, Nottingham after our split LP launch party.






If you'd like high resolution versions of these photos for press purposes, don't hesitate to get in touch: ichbinsimmo at gmail dot com. Feel free to repost wherever you see fit, but do be sure to credit Steve Gullick. Cheers!

Millions Now Living Will Die Young In A Cold Dead Spiderland

Recording for our third album, possibly or possibly not titled as above, is almost done. We our now preparing ourselves for six months of experimentation, mixing, mastering, and arguments about gates and compressors.

We're very excited about this record. In the past, give or take a few overdubs and sonic tweaks, our recorded output has largely been the sound of a band playing live in a room. This time we're aiming for something that sounds radically different to previous ventures, so we've decided to take a totally different approach. Each instrument is being tracked individually, giving us a lot more freedom for production tomfoolery. The idea/hope is that the production process will become an integral part of the songwriting process.

It's exciting and yet scary, as we don't know quite what the record will sound like. About all we know so far is that it will feature seven or eight tracks and will be our shortest album by some length. I have high hopes that it will be by far the best thing we have ever released... here's to hoping that we don't fuck it up.

Aaron, meanwhile, continues to thrive on the Indian subcontinent. Our only fear for him is that that upon his return (July) he will want to lay down some tabla overdubs.

Crikey.

Reviews of "Clown Jazz"

Reviews of our new split release with Sincabeza (out on Monday 22nd February) are beginning to trickle through. Here are the first couple:

Drowned In Sound
"A masterclass in self-expression without a single spoken word being uttered throughout."

Subba Cultcha
"A warped, fractured take on jazz fed through a distorted blender of guitars and electronics [...] which showcases a creatively diverse band at the peak of their powers."

Pennyblackmusic
"A must for any math rock head"

Rock-A-Rolla
"It's all good."

God Is In The TV
"A Wish You Were Here-style snapshot of a paradise island you will never visit."

Die Shellsuit Die
"Souvaris’ raid on Tortoise fairly leaps from the speakers... pleasing and surprising"

Culture Deluxe
"An impressive new groove-driven direction [...] rather wonderful".

Echoes and Dust
"Off-beat math funk, tightly grooved and interspersed with quirky melodies and a charming exuberancy [...] a great listen."

The Silent Ballet
"The stamina these guys have is amazing; from start to finish, the album is nine-tenths bounce-around-the-room hyperactivity, with the remainder providing just enough breather to remind the listener just how energetic the rest is."

Liability (in French)
"Clown Jazz est comme un révélateur de la bonne santé du math-rock actuel et montre même que l'on peut parvenir à surpasser l'étiquette de genre dans laquelle on les affuble généralement. Un must."

Benzine (in French)
"Un grand cru, indéniablement."

Mille Feuille (in French)
"Rien que pulsation, puissance, vitesse et vie."

Muzzart (in French)
"Force et finesse cohabitent merveilleusement et la rupture voulue et mise en place par Souvaris s'avère juste et débouche sur un horizon différent mais parfaitement en phase avec ce qui précède, preuve de l'adresse affichée dans l'addition d'atmosphères et dans l'élaboration de celles-ci."

DMute (in French)
"Certains parlent de claque, je préfère parler de caresse, l'une plus appuyée que l'autre."

Perte Et Fracas (in French)
"Contrairement à une majorité de groupes du même acabit qui finissent toujours par s'en/vous endormir, Souvaris ne joue pas sur le contraste montée/descente mais sur la richesse des sons et contre toute attente, fini par séduire."

More to follow soon!

Souvaris/Sincabeza - "Clown Jazz" digital release - available now!

Dear friends without record players,

Fret not! If you buy a copy of the new LP, you'll find a download code snuck inside so you can get your digital kicks alongside those (admit, much nicer sounding) superior analogue sounds emanating from your stereo.

Alternatively, if you don't want a weighty great 12" clogging up space in your fashionable abode, you can always buy a digital version of the Souvaris side to clutter up your hard drive instead. And you should be able to find a version in just about any format you could possibly want!

Check out http://souvaris.bandcamp.com, or just have a click below:

Souvaris/Sincabeza - "Clown Jazz" split LP (Gringo Records), released 22nd February 2010

So, the first new release in 18 months is about to be let out the door... full details and a full stream of the entire record here:
http://www.sincabeza.org/sincavaris/

We'll put up some links to reviews as and when we approach the 22nd February release date, but don't delay! this record is limited to 500 copies and when they're gone they're gone! You can buy yourself a copy from a decent independent record shop if you live in the UK, or you can get one direct from Gringo records for a mere £8.50:
http://www.gringorecords.com/catalog/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=397&osCsid=s6sjb82t860b3vlderrhcmpm56

Nice, eh? Ooh, and don't forget we're playing two special gigs to celebrate the launch of this beauteous beast, in Manchester and Nottingham! After that, it will be silence from us, as Aaron is about to spend six months finding himself in India. The rest of us will be recording the remainder of our long-in-the-works third album, which we're hoping to complete sometime before the end of the year. But more on that later.

Lovingly,

Souvaris
xxxxxxx

The January 2010 Microtour is soon to commence!

Femmes! Hommes! Garcons et filles!

Sorry for the prolonged silence, but we've beavering away in the background on some new recordings.... However, with our split LP with Sincabeza finally approaching a firm release date (more details when we know them), we though we should drop a quick note to let you know that we will be embarking on the smallest tour ever in a couple of weeks time. TWO whole consecutive shows in two different cities! First up a trip to Manchester, followed by an LP launch party in Nottingham. Crikey!

THURSDAY 21st JANUARY
@ THE RETRO BAR, MANCHESTER
w/ These Monsters, FTSE 100
7.30pm / £5
Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/#/event.php?eid=165966476748&ref=ts

FRIDAY 22nd JANUARY
@ CHAMELEON, NOTTINGHAM
Celebrating the release of our split LP with Sincabeza on Gringo Records
w/ Tenebrous Liar, Hatchling
8.30pm / £5
Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/#/event.php?eid=252147462501&ref=ts

Very soon we shall write with solid news about exactly where, when and how you can buy our forthcoming release on Gringo - we are expecting copies back from the pressing plant any day now....

Hopefully see you at one of the shows - do say hello.

Toodle pip,

Souvaris xxx