AN ANNOUNCEMENT: The end is nigh. No, really.

Greetings,

As the final hours of 2011 trickle by and the (Gregorian calendar-reading) world's attention turns to 20 and the 12, so the members of Souvaris also turn our attentions to new things. We're sorry to say that from Saturday 18th February 2012, this band will cease to exist.

We're extremely proud of what we have achieved with SOUVARIS - SOUVARIS SOUVARIS. It's the culmination of over 2 years of work (including a few self-inflicted delays, admittedly) and quite honestly we don't know where to go from here. Our lives are now in such different places to where we began and our energies are diverted into other avenues to the point where it is difficult to get us all in one place, let alone in a position to make more music. So we've decided to stop.

Now into its twelfth year, we never for a moment imagined that this band would come to dominate more than a decade of our lives, playing hundreds (just about) of shows around the UK and Europe, sharing stages with some of our favourite bands and meeting too many of the loveliest people imaginable who we are now proud to call friends. Looking back across the years stretching back to the late months of 2000, we have innumerable fond memories to look back on and share as stories whenever we see each other.
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This goes back to include our two former (and founder) members Mike Beevor and David Moult, both of whom are both still dear friends and brothers in arms. The seven of us actually managed to get ourselves into the same room for the first time in memory - twice in the space of a fortnight! - to celebrate the marriages of David S and Simmo in the summer of 2011. Look! Here's a picture, taken by our esteemed friend Romain Didier of Crëvecoeur and Jean-Elliot Senior:



So what do we do now? Well, first we have to persuade you to buy SOUVARIS - SOUVARIS SOUVARIS so that Matt Gringo makes back some of the cash he spunked on getting it pressed. All our relatives got predictably red CD-shaped presents this year. Why didn't yours? BUY BUY BUY. It's our legacy. Our swansong. One last bow. Etc. You get the picture.

The second thing we decided to do was to at least do one last hurrah; or rather ONE LAST GIG before we call time on things. We're still planning various things to put a special evening together for anyone who decides to come, but you can rest assured that it probably won't be like the KLF. Full details will be forthcoming, but we have booked THE SPACE at Nottingham Contemporary for Friday 17th February as the air-infused vacuum in which we will perform our final show. So put the date in your diary, or just add this Facebook event to it: http://www.facebook.com/events/294835213891238/. There'll be more soon.

Lovingly,

SVRS
xxxx

FINALLY RELEASED: Souvaris Souvaris Souvaris Souvaris Souvaris Souvaris Souvaris...

Hey ho chaps and chapettes,

Some obligatory HUGE THANKS to Emma and the lovely blokes from Dear Thief/Gung Ho and Doig and the dudes at Power Lunches for having us at a super-special, super-sweaty London gig the other weekend. We had a hugely enjoyable time playing and seeing lots of faces old and new. If you came out; we salute you.

But now, to business, for this week finally marks the official release of SOUVARIS - SOUVARIS SOUVARIS. Some of these songs took literally months to write, and we first started working on recording the whole thing over 2 years ago and only just managed to finish it this summer, so it's extremely gratifying to have it released by our great friends and still hugely vital Nottingham-loving label Gringo Records. Similarly, in these times of massive cutbacks, record labels and distros dying on their arses and shops going tits-up, it's extremely kind of Cargo to take on a record as uncommercial as ours and stick a few copies in local record shops... if you're lucky enough to live near any that still exist, we implore you to go out and support it by buying AS MANY COPIES AS YOU CAN.

You mean you haven't heard it yet? Well my dear, here are some thingummies from Bandcamp and Soundcloud:

Latest tracks by souvaris

And if that sonic onslaught didn't persuade you, we received one of the most well-considered and thoughtful of our venerable 11 years courtesy of the generous Tommy Dski at Pocket Jury:

"Somewhere between [NEU!75 and Can's "Landed"] is the wonderful Souvaris, an amalgamation of the inventiveness of early krautrock with western pop music, creating something of a unique art-rock sound. The surging crescendos favoured by many post-rock bands are still there but the sense of dynamics is far more varied, with many moods covered over the forty minute duration... one of the great British treasures at the absolute peak of their considerable power."

I think we all genuinely blushed when we read this review - so many thanks to Tommy.

Now what are you waiting for? It's the perfect Christmas present! Buy one for yourself! Buy one for your other half! Heck, buy our Gringo's entire stock so we can stop owing Matt so much money as well as all the good karma he's passed our way over the last few years! BUY! BUY! BUY!