On #InternationalWomensDay, let’s celebrate our fantastic female musicians here at DMR! We have the wonderful Sarah Birch; the awesome The Kick Jetts; and also the mighty Zed Motel, fronted by Katie Skilton!
Go and have a listen to their tunes! They’re all sublime!
Sarah Birch
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6YjLHu2klRuCRcJBD4lFMo…
The Kick Jetts
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6YjLHu2klRuCRcJBD4lFMo…
Zed Motel
https://open.spotify.com/album/2nJTurZJJkCv7WA9K2r28x…
The Kick Jetts NEW Single ‘Southern Comfort’ is OUT NOW
The first track from their upcoming EP is available for Streaming from Spotify and all major platforms and you can head on over to the Death Monkey Records Bandcamp to download it for FREE this week only if you sign up to the DMR mailing list.
Sarah Birch performed at this years FOCUS WALES festival at the beginning of the month, In magnificent surroundings only fitting of our favourite songstress at St Giles Church Wrexham, supporting the renowned Harpist CATRIN FINCH.
Catch Sarah at the National Waterfront Museum, Swansea, on Sunday as part of this year’s The Swansea Fringe Festival 2021 supporting Scott Matthews.
Swansea Fringe Festivals returns we are very excited to have our own stage at this year’s event. Death Monkey will be hosting a stage at this years Swansea Fringe Festival at Hanger 18 on Saturday 23rd October. As always a wristband pass allows you to get into every venue across the city or tickets can be purchased for £5 on the door.
The legendary #SwanseaMusic label, Death Monkey Records, returns to the Swansea Fringe, this year with a showcase of some of their astounding Alt-Rock, Punk and Psych artists at Hangar 18 on Saturday 23rd October!
Swansea Fringe Festival: SFF2021
Expect music from;
|| Zed Motel ||
Post-Grunge Alternative-Rock Favourites
|| Windshake ||
Psychedelic Indie Groovers
|| The Kick Jetts ||
Female Power-Rock Collectiv
|| Daddy’s Little Cowboy ||
Rhondda Valley Punk-Rock Veteran
|| Joel Morgan ||
King Goon solo set
Swansea Fringe is in its 4th year now and has become a staple of the Autumn events calendar, with this years being the biggest yet. Joining a list of familiar Death Monkey Artists will be very special guests WINDSHAKE, who previously joined us for an exclusive release through our Singles Club and having recently relocated to Bristol also having doubled their lineup introducing new members to the fold to take their sound to whole new psychedelic realms.
Wristbands will be available through the Wristband exchange at The Three Lamps.
This Month, Birmingham’s XRP Radio have a feature on Death Monkey Records! with an interview with Dave and Damian all about the label and DMR’s own Sarah Birch as the the cover artist for the August Edition.
XRP is dedicated to unsigned and independent artists and is fiercely against mainstream music and the over commercialisation it undergoes where it becomes sanitised and homogenised to reach a mass audience.
XRP share many of the principles which Death Monkey itself was founded on and the reason the DMR was setup in Swansea, so it is an honour and privilege to have been included in August’s edition with XRP station Boss Tizz speaking with Dave and Damian about a bit of background behind Death Monkey.
DMR artist Sarah Birch can also be found on the front cover with news of her NEW single ‘OLD MONEY NEW MONEY’ which is out NOW and able to stream through Spotify and the DMR Bandcamp.
https://www.flipsnack.com/FE9D8A88B7A/xrpzine-august.html
We’ve some quiet epic summer news for you this August, Swansea Post-Grunge heavy hitters Zed Motel are set to join Death Monkey Records to work on their next recordings and we couldn’t be more excited.
Having just released their new EP ‘Leave With Nothing’ Zed Motel are currently on tour promoting the album, but already making plans for getting in the studio with Death Monkey and working on the follow-up at some point next year.
In the meantime, head over to Zed Motels pages and you can keep up to date with all the news and tour dates from the band.
https://www.facebook.com/zedmotel
We had the immense pleasure of catching up with Swansea’s much missed cult heros NinePlanFailed last weekend! while recording a new DMR podcast to talk about the Re-Release/ReMaster of their debut 2012 self titled album for the 10 Year Anniversary of Death Monkey Records.
A band well ahead of their time, with their own brand of dark subversive pop and political cynicism, NinePlanFailed are arguably more relevant today than ever and it can only be imagined what they would make of todays socio-political landscape if they were still around making records… Could a reformation be on the cards?
We’ll be dropping the Podcast shortly where the band discuss everything you ever wanted (and didn’t want) to know about NinePlanFailed, as well some pretty damn awesome and very exciting, previously unreleased recordings.
It has just been announced that Sarah Birch will be performing at this years FOCUS WALES festival in Wrexham and supporting internationally renowned Harpist Catrin Finch. Sarah will be taking to the stage at 6.30pm in St Giles Parish, tickets are £22 which will get you a wristband for access to the rest of the festival.
FOCUS is a yearly international festival and showcase event held in Wrexham for the Welsh Music Industry which “places the music industry spotlight firmly on the emerging talent that Wales has to offer the world, alongside a selection of the best new acts from across the globe” The festival is in its 10th year and will be host to 250+ bands on 20 stages, as well as a conference over 7-9th OCTOBER. More info can be found at focuswales.com
You can also catch Sarah Birch at the Swansea Fringe Festival later in the October on Sat 30th for what will be an incredible show, supporting acoustic stalwart Scott Matthews at the Waterfront Museum.
Work has begun on The Kick Jetts, as yet untitled, debut album due for release later in the year. Death Monkey headed down to Sound Haven Studio with the band this week to start work on first single ‘Southern Comfort’
Recording is expected to continue throughout the Summer on the album, with production set to wrap up around late September. Updates to follow on what can only be an explosive first outing for Swansea’s purveyors of heavy-rock tuneage.
As part of our continuing 10th Anniversary celebrations (Which have been just a little bit disrupted by a global pandemic and the suspension of society as we know it.) we will be reissuing some Classic DeathMonkey albums in the coming months!
When some of our early releases first came out it was pre the Vinyl-boom, Digital Distribution was still somewhat in its infancy and and while CD’s were becoming a dying format, physical releases were something we were whole-heartedly committed to as a label over the EVILS!! of “Downloads” as they were popularly known at the time.
The technology has matured a bit since then, along with streaming becoming adopted as the main way fans listen to NEW music and bands promote their work, so we’re taking a bit more of a blended approach these days. This means that for a few of the albums we have planned to release as part of the Re-Master series, this is the first time they will have had an official digital release!
Release dates are yet to be confirmed, but we’ll be kicking off the Remaster series with the inaugural albums from two of Swansea’s much loved bands and DMR artists. nineplanfailed‘s Self titled EP and World Vs. World‘s ‘The Sentinel Paradox’ which will both be available in the coming months in their newly Remastered format.
(Sarah Birch Performing at Voulmentin Festival, France) Photo by Helen Louise Banham
Just under a year ago in April 2020, while the true consequences of Brexit for UK musicians touring Europe were still unknown, Damian Harris, Drummer for World Vs. World and part of the team here at DEATHMONKEY, wrote an article for SoundBoard Magazine outlining his prescient views on what could only be the inevitable consequences and devastating impact it would cause.
Not even a month into the full divorce these predictions have become an ugly reality.
Here’s What Damian had to say back in April writing for SoundBoard.
(The full issue 10 of SoundBoard Magazine can be found at
www.soundboardmagazine.co.uk)
With great sadness we hear the news that iconic recording studio and Swansea institution Abertawe Rd is being forced to close permanently with still much potential to offer. One thing that can be said for studio owner Pez Anderson is that he loves the Swansea music scene with a great passion, which was his main driving force in setting up Abertawe Road Studios over 12 years ago.
We had an opportunity over the last year or so to form a closer working relationship with Pez and the studio and we are proud to have been able to create the #Abertawe13 compilation, much of Sarah Birch‘s album, The Ballad Of Peter & Jane, along with single releases from WINDSHAKE, Kikker and more with the co-operation of Pez and ABERTAWE ROAD STUDIOS plus it was becoming a regular practice room with many of our artists with both The Kick Jetts and more recently World Vs. World considering it their creative bases.
This is another very sad day in the history of the local music scene, and Abertawe Road will be missed by many across the region.We would like to thank Pez for all his work over the last decade or so, and for his co-operation, and wish him a peaceful retirement!
It is with regret that I am announcing the closure of ABERTAWE ROAD STUDIOS after 12.5 years.The closure has been forced upon the studio as the Landlord told me today he was selling up the property. UK lock down has not helped either and with the studio closed for the duration the resultant debt of unpaid rent is proving to be a major financial strain so not helping!
I would like to say a sincere thanks to all bands and solo artists past and present for all your support. Same goes to Death Monkey Records and Welsh Connections and all the individuals involved who have provided to me and the studio the best support and help I could ever ask for, it really is appreciated.So wishing you all the very best with your musical endeavours, Swansea has produced some excellent bands and I am proud to have had them rehearse and record in my studio.
Pez Anderson – Abertawe Rd. Studio