whelanslive
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Whelanslive presents the legendary
Howe Gelb(Giant Sand/OP8)
Thursday May 24th
Whelans Of Wexford St
Tickets €17.50 including booking fee available from www.wavtickets.ie or call the WAV Box Office [Lo-call 1890 200 078]. Tickets also available from www.tickets.ie & Ticketmaster agents nationwide
"It's an addictive ride" - Stewart Lee, The Sunday Times
For 27 years Howe Gelb has uncompromisingly ploughed his own furrow blending his south western roots with lo-fi, country, jazz, and punk to create an ever-evolving and genre-defying career that in addition to 24 Giant Sand albums also includes three solo piano instrumental collections, a rake of grunge sludge and two collaborations with a gospel choir along with collaborations with PJ Harvey and with Lisa Germano as OP8. Inaccurately yet affectionately dubbed the Godfather of Alt. Country by the British press Gelb says he's more comfortable with the term 'erosion rock' and is happy to be thought of as a cult figure along with the creative freedom that brings. "Giant Sand is a mood" he once said in an attempt to explain his dizzingly prolific and humblingly eclectic output.
Born October 22, 1956, Howe Gelb moved to Tucson, Arizona in 1972 directly after his Pennsylvanian home was destroyed by a hurricane flood. When not on the road, he still lives in an old barrio downtown there. Although "endlessly restlessly wanderlusted encrusted", he's well settled in the desert caliche where it takes him an hour to dig a small hole, and 3 days to change the cooler pads.
His new album, entitled “Tucson” being released June 11, 2012, on Fire Records is a country rock opera with an expanded version of his old band now called GIANT GIANT SAND, and includes 6 members from Arizona and 6 from Denmark. It features 19 tracks set in an imposing time of history (now) in any town (Tucson) when freedom of the heart and mind deal with the ramifications of a world ending.
He has collected bands in Denmark, Spain and one with a full gospel choir in Canada, but critics call his music Americana anyway.
In 1976 Howe met his reinvented older brother, Rainer Ptacek, renowned slide guitarist and beloved Tucson icon, and together formed the post punk band Giant Sandworms in 1980. Rainer died from brain cancer in 1997, but has continued to leave his imprint on Howe’s recordings ever since they first met.
Before that was a series of 4 track recordings done by legendary Pennsylvanian NPR engineer George Graham, including Howe's first country songs under the moniker 'Wow + Flutter' (1976), his first rock opera ‘ZEQE 24.088’ (1977) and the punk band 'The Stains' (1978).
Giant Sand emerged in 1983 and released that group's debut album, Valley of Rain in 1985. A year before that he released a country album under the guise of “The Band of… Blacky Ranchette”. In the 25 years or so since, he has released an estimated 40 albums. No one is sure of the exact amount.
His debut record’s release resulted by handing his tape over in a less then lucid state to a touring band's manager (Joe Nick Patowski) in the early 80s, and so had continued the tradition by accepting demos to facilitate the first releases of M. Ward and Grandaddy along the way.
Yes, Calexico was Howe’s rhythm section for most of the 90s before their transformation, having introduced the pair to each other and Tucson itself. Giant Sand’s last record, Blurry Blue Mountain, was also released on Fire Records, and brilliantly included all of the mashed genres that’s reflected the band's credo from the get go. Fire is also reissuing 30 albums from the entire back catalog (complete with the re-mastering of all the early titles) nicely marking the 25th year of Giant Sand releases since 1985.
The most recent solo project is entitled, “Alegrias”, by 'Howe Gelb and A Band of Gypsies', was recorded on a roof top in Cordoba, Spain. The band is a collection of Andalucian Flamenco Gypsies featuring guitarist extraordinaire Raimundo Amador, that is, quite frankly, stunning.
The solo album before that, ‘Sno angel “like you”, featured a 9 piece Canadian Baptist gospel choir and heralded a career high by a 5 star review in Mojo Magazine:.
Local Tucson music journalist Gene Armstrong writes:
How do you write a bio about a musician who has spent more than 30 years defying musical conventions? You could trot out all the clichéd rock-critic terms: seminal, hyperbole, incendiary, eponymous, masterful, achingly poignant, priceless, alt-country, old-school, outlaw. Some of those might even fit if you shoehorned them into context.
Howe Gelb long has been saddled with such titles as "godfather of alt-country" and "elder ambassador ofdesert rock." When confronted with such accolades, he clears his throat, amused and a little embarrassed, and he ponders. His summer-sun squint turns into a twinkle when he finally asks his questioner, "What do you think of it?"
Howe Gelb(Giant Sand/OP8)
Thursday May 24th
Whelans Of Wexford St
Tickets €17.50 including booking fee available from www.wavtickets.ie or call the WAV Box Office [Lo-call 1890 200 078]. Tickets also available from www.tickets.ie & Ticketmaster agents nationwide
"It's an addictive ride" - Stewart Lee, The Sunday Times
For 27 years Howe Gelb has uncompromisingly ploughed his own furrow blending his south western roots with lo-fi, country, jazz, and punk to create an ever-evolving and genre-defying career that in addition to 24 Giant Sand albums also includes three solo piano instrumental collections, a rake of grunge sludge and two collaborations with a gospel choir along with collaborations with PJ Harvey and with Lisa Germano as OP8. Inaccurately yet affectionately dubbed the Godfather of Alt. Country by the British press Gelb says he's more comfortable with the term 'erosion rock' and is happy to be thought of as a cult figure along with the creative freedom that brings. "Giant Sand is a mood" he once said in an attempt to explain his dizzingly prolific and humblingly eclectic output.
Born October 22, 1956, Howe Gelb moved to Tucson, Arizona in 1972 directly after his Pennsylvanian home was destroyed by a hurricane flood. When not on the road, he still lives in an old barrio downtown there. Although "endlessly restlessly wanderlusted encrusted", he's well settled in the desert caliche where it takes him an hour to dig a small hole, and 3 days to change the cooler pads.
His new album, entitled “Tucson” being released June 11, 2012, on Fire Records is a country rock opera with an expanded version of his old band now called GIANT GIANT SAND, and includes 6 members from Arizona and 6 from Denmark. It features 19 tracks set in an imposing time of history (now) in any town (Tucson) when freedom of the heart and mind deal with the ramifications of a world ending.
He has collected bands in Denmark, Spain and one with a full gospel choir in Canada, but critics call his music Americana anyway.
In 1976 Howe met his reinvented older brother, Rainer Ptacek, renowned slide guitarist and beloved Tucson icon, and together formed the post punk band Giant Sandworms in 1980. Rainer died from brain cancer in 1997, but has continued to leave his imprint on Howe’s recordings ever since they first met.
Before that was a series of 4 track recordings done by legendary Pennsylvanian NPR engineer George Graham, including Howe's first country songs under the moniker 'Wow + Flutter' (1976), his first rock opera ‘ZEQE 24.088’ (1977) and the punk band 'The Stains' (1978).
Giant Sand emerged in 1983 and released that group's debut album, Valley of Rain in 1985. A year before that he released a country album under the guise of “The Band of… Blacky Ranchette”. In the 25 years or so since, he has released an estimated 40 albums. No one is sure of the exact amount.
His debut record’s release resulted by handing his tape over in a less then lucid state to a touring band's manager (Joe Nick Patowski) in the early 80s, and so had continued the tradition by accepting demos to facilitate the first releases of M. Ward and Grandaddy along the way.
Yes, Calexico was Howe’s rhythm section for most of the 90s before their transformation, having introduced the pair to each other and Tucson itself. Giant Sand’s last record, Blurry Blue Mountain, was also released on Fire Records, and brilliantly included all of the mashed genres that’s reflected the band's credo from the get go. Fire is also reissuing 30 albums from the entire back catalog (complete with the re-mastering of all the early titles) nicely marking the 25th year of Giant Sand releases since 1985.
The most recent solo project is entitled, “Alegrias”, by 'Howe Gelb and A Band of Gypsies', was recorded on a roof top in Cordoba, Spain. The band is a collection of Andalucian Flamenco Gypsies featuring guitarist extraordinaire Raimundo Amador, that is, quite frankly, stunning.
The solo album before that, ‘Sno angel “like you”, featured a 9 piece Canadian Baptist gospel choir and heralded a career high by a 5 star review in Mojo Magazine:.
Local Tucson music journalist Gene Armstrong writes:
How do you write a bio about a musician who has spent more than 30 years defying musical conventions? You could trot out all the clichéd rock-critic terms: seminal, hyperbole, incendiary, eponymous, masterful, achingly poignant, priceless, alt-country, old-school, outlaw. Some of those might even fit if you shoehorned them into context.
Howe Gelb long has been saddled with such titles as "godfather of alt-country" and "elder ambassador ofdesert rock." When confronted with such accolades, he clears his throat, amused and a little embarrassed, and he ponders. His summer-sun squint turns into a twinkle when he finally asks his questioner, "What do you think of it?"
