IANL - Main News Feed

Tours, Socks, Secrets

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 09:41:00 +0100

We hope you’re all keeping well. It’s been a little while since we’ve been in touch, we’ve been busy trying to get all our ducks in a row - they keep trying to escape, those pesky ducks!

On the gigs front, we’re coming back to Europe for a short tour in October to try out some of the new songs in a live setting for you.

The shows we have lined up for you are:

8th October - The Grand Social, Dublin with Fat Baby Panda + The Crayon Set

12th October - The Islington, London with Fat Baby Panda

13th October - Delicatessen Zeeburg, Amsterdam with Fat Baby Panda

14th October - Haarlem - details tbc

Full information on these shows can, of course, be found on the shows page.

We’re going to be trying something new for this tour, with a very special guest on stage with us, so come and see how we fare.

We’ve also started a non-profit label to try and promote Irish music to the world. It’s called Rhinosaur Records, and the first release is a 3-track EP featuring ourselves, The Crayon Set and Fat Baby Panda, which you can download from here: http://rhinosaurrecords.bandcamp.com/ - feel free to share it with anyone who might like it.

At home, we’ve been retrofitting our merchandise laboratory, with a brand-new heatpress and professional grade transfers and inks. We’ve been a little concerned for a while about making sure our merchandise, though home-made, is top quality with improved longevity and colour-fastness. Given how many of you are nice enough to support us by buying it, we want to make sure you are getting an excellent product. And so we’re delighted to announce that our Left and Not Left socks are back on sale here: http://iamnotlefthanded.bandcamp.com/merch We’ve plans for new t-shirts and bags and anything else fun that we can put between two hot plates of metal (paninis?).

For those of you who are wondering about the physical release of The Fire & The Sigh, well we can’t tell you anything. But we can tell you that there might be something to tell. We just can’t tell it to you yet, the ink is not quite dry… But you guys will be the first to hear, we promise.

Millions of peaches,

- Kathryn, Daniel & Benji

The Fire & The Sigh - released!

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 22:23:06 +0100

We’re so delighted to announce that it’s finished, and heading towards your ears. Thank so much for all your support during the process, you kept us (mostly) sane throughout. Not much more to be said, go listen here and, as always, please share it with anyone you think might like it:

<a href=”http://iamnotlefthanded.bandcamp.com/album/the-fire-the-sigh” data-mce-href=”http://iamnotlefthanded.bandcamp.com/album/the-fire-the-sigh”>The Fire & The Sigh by I Am Not Lefthanded</a>

Album release and further excitements

Fri, 11 May 2012 10:21:51 +0100

Hey folks,

We hope you’ve been enjoying the fact that Spring has finally sprung. We know it’s been a while since we’ve written home, but we’re hoping it’s been worth the wait. Put on the kettle and make yourself comfortable, this might take a little bit.

Firstly, we’re beyond thrilled to announce we’ll be launching our new album The Fire & The Sigh on Sunday June 3rd 2012. It’s currently residing in Seattle, where it’s being mastered by our old friend, John McCaig. We can’t even begin to tell you how much your support over the last year has meant to us. We have something special planned for June 3rd to say thank you, so put the date in your diaries, or on the back of your hands, or on a note by your bathroom mirror. We’ll send more details towards the end of May.

That’s not even all.

On the same night we sent the tracks away to Seattle, we received an invitation to showcase the album at North by Northeast, which is Canada’s largest indie music festival. They’ve offered us a show in Toronto on June 16th, in front of a mix of publishers, promoters and general music enthusiasts. After an incredible experience playing Indie Week in October, we’re really excited at the prospect of returning to the city. This is a huge opportunity and a wonderful way to launch the album.

We’re aware that the only reason we were able to record an album is because of you guys. You gave us your money and your support and we couldn’t have come this far without you. So when we tell you we’ve started a Kickstarter project to fund this trip to Canada, it’s not because we want more of your money. Well, don’t get us wrong. More money means more shows, more promotion for the album - but we’re aware there has been a host of goodwill sent our way to get this project finished and that’s so much more important to us than money.

We’re trying to raise the cost of three return flights to Toronto and three meals in a cafe on Queen Street West for the nights we’re in town. No more, no less. The link is here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1962996013/i-am-not-lefthanded-go-canadian

The video we made for this features an instrumental from one of the tracks on the album, and another star turn from our friendly neighbourhood Rhinosaur. Which basically makes it a teaser trailer for the album release. Christopher Nolan, eat your heart out.

If you know any Canadians who you think might enjoy hearing us play, or know anyone near the US border who’s interested in hopping on a bus for a weekend gig, we’d really appreciate if you’d share the link to the Kickstarter project with them.

For those of you wondering when we’re going to play shows outside Canada, we’re playing our first San Francisco gig of 2012 next Friday, the 18th of May in the Rockit Room. This is the final show for our good friends Monsters Are Not Myths, so we’ll be offering a good mix of sincere dedications and ridiculous jokes to take their minds off the farewells. We’ll also have some early release bootleg versions of the album for sale at the show, so if you just can’t wait til June 3rd, come out to raise your glass on the night. Details, as always, are at: www.iamnotlefthanded.com/shows.html

We have plans to play some shows in the UK and Ireland in Autumn. But if we start writing about them now, you won’t be finished reading this email by the time they roll around.

Thank you again for all your kind words and support over the past twelve months. We can’t wait to get back to venues to start playing the album for you guys.

Hands on hearts,

Kathryn, Daniel and Benji

Heading West

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:49:00 +0100

A quick update on how we’re getting along with the album. Thanks to everyone who’s been checking in and offering us kind words of support, we do feel a little bad that we’re making you wait for it, but we just want to make sure it’s as perfect as we can make it before we release it.

We’ve just finished the main recording stage. All the drums, bass and guitar parts are done, along with some piano lines and vocals. What’s left to be recorded is mainly the vocals, some keys and other overdubs. As we’re done with the noisier writing and recording side, we’ve moved out of our country studio. It was really good to us, and it was a huge help to be able to play through song ideas on endless loops, only disturbing the horses on one side and the graveyard on the other.

For the final stage of this album, the overdubs and the mixing, we’re making a break and heading to California, to add a little sunshine to the feel of it. It’s a move we’ve been thinking about for a while. After last year’s US tour, with the friendly reactions that we found everywhere, we think there’s definitely a welcome for our music in the US. We will be back to Europe, so don’t worry, you haven’t seen the last of us, but it’ll give us a chance to get to know our American friends better.

En route to California, we are taking a break from recording to play a few shows at Canada’s Indie Week in Toronto. This will be our first time in Canada, and we’re really excited to meet up with some of you who we’ve only met on the internet so far. If it goes well, it could be a great gateway to a full Canadian tour, so we’ve been polishing up our shoes and finishing some new songs to show off. We’ll also be making a stop with the Canadian branch of BalconyTV - a great Irish export that’s taking over the world - we’ll see if they treat you as well in Toronto as in Dublin.

That’s all the news for now, these will be the last shows until the album is completely finished, mixed and polished. Thanks for sticking with us and all the words of encouragement, it really does make it all worthwhile.

- Kathryn, Daniel & Benji

There's a new post on Kathryn's blog: The words I never said

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:32:00 +0100

There's a new post on Kathryn's blog: The words I never said:

everythingbuttheocean:

There’s a storm over the city tonight. The trees outside my window push back against the wind. Listening to their hushed and tired sounds, I think they’re trying to comfort each other.

A close friend of mine lost her cousin in a car crash last week. It’s difficult, being far from the people you…

Exciting news this week:

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 17:09:20 +0100

We’ve been invited to play at Indie Week Canada in October! (www.indieweek.com) Our first ever shows in Canada will be kicking off in Toronto. More details to follow as we get them…

New show announced in London at Bush Hall on September 23, 2011

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:00:32 +0100

New show announced in London at Bush Hall on September 23, 2011:

I Am Not Lefthanded has recently added the following shows.

.September 23, 2011 - London, United Kingdom - Bush Hall
Address: 310 UXBRIDGE ROAD - Map
Time : 8:00 PM
Tickets: £15 Buy Now -…

We’ve had a few emails the past week or two wondering where we’ve gone, and why the...

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 21:33:25 +0100

We’ve had a few emails the past week or two wondering where we’ve gone, and why the website has been quiet. Some of you asked after the album. One of you asked if cake would help. (Our answer being: we’re not sure Royal Mail delivers confectionery, but we’re willing to try).

We’ve posted a new entry in our studio diary to fill you in on what we’ve been up to. Have a look HERE

We are escaping from the studio for a London show in Bush Hall on the 23rd of September. We’re playing with some other bands as part of a charity show for the Hammersmith & Fulham Play Association. Tickets are a little more than our usual fare at £15, but all the money goes to an amazing cause:

Play Association Hammersmith and Fulham is a children’s charity that works to improve play opportunities for children and young people throughout Hammersmith & Fulham and surrounding boroughs. They believe that every child has the right to play freely and that play is an essential part of the welfare, development and education of children.

We’ll post further details closer to the time or you can stay up to date through their website at: www.playassociationhf.org.uk/newsandevents.html

Irish Dates Cancelled

Wed, 25 May 2011 12:45:00 +0100

Hey folks, we’ve had to cancel our Irish dates due to some personal stuff. Sorry for anyone who’s disappointed, we’ll reschedule them soon.

Selling out?

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 15:24:00 +0100

As some of you seem to have noticed - or may notice in the coming days - well, we’ve sold out. A few weeks ago, we were contacted by the advertising agency that represents Clearblue, who wanted to use our song Boats (Swept Away) in their latest tv ad campaign.

We took some time to think about what this meant for us. There are people we respect who are firmly against bands dealing with large corporations. We had to consider the possibility that, while this gets the music out to a wider audience, it might be considered to be betraying the song just a little. Or worse still, betraying people who care about the song as much as we do.

We realise that we’re not the Dandy Warhols, and this is nowhere near as ubiquitous as those Vodafone ads were, but discovering songs through TV ads can colour your perceptions of them. That said, we are operating as a completely independent band - there’s no label with deep pockets paying us tour support, in this fragmented modern music industry we have to forge a path where we can.

We’ve been blown away by the constant stream of support - financial as much as moral - from you guys this past year. We’re saving every penny we can right now to make a better album, one that we can be proud of. Making money from the ad will ultimately help us make more music, make better music, and will keep the tiles on the studio roof during those strong Spring gales that have been whipping about the countryside lately!

Plus, the ad is for a fertility monitor - it’s a pro-baby product and while we don’t know a whole lot of babies personally, they seem like good people so we’re very happy to support them where we can.

Honestly, we’re curious about what you guys think. We don’t actually have a tv set, so we’re probably going to be the last people to even notice the ad. Is this selling out? Does selling out mean anything anymore? The most important thing about making music is the connection that people, you guys, make with it. Will hearing Boats on a tv ad make you smile or make you sad? We’d genuinely like to know.

- Kathryn, Daniel & Benji

Free Catch-up EP

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 19:13:51 +0000

For those of you who haven’t got it yet, don’t forget to pick up our catch-up EP ahead of the release of our new material, coming very soon:

Website updates

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 19:40:04 +0000

We’ve done a couple of website overhauls, added a Videos page and a place to download our free catch-up EP. As always, do let us know if you follow a link that takes you down a dark and mysterious alleyway and then tickles you mercilessly.

With recording starting tomorrow, we thought this might be a...

Sun, 13 Feb 2011 20:03:00 +0000

With recording starting tomorrow, we thought this might be a good time to let people know the name we’ve chosen for the album.

As ever, we appreciate all the support, encouragement and general enthusiasm you’ve been sending our way. We hope you’re enjoying watching it all come together…

- Kathryn, Daniel & Benji

Our Studio Diary page is up!

Mon, 17 Jan 2011 02:56:00 +0000

Click on the handsome dog above to find out what we’ve been up to and tune in to our rehearsals…

Quick Update

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 16:09:59 +0000

Hey folks,

Sorry for the information blackout, we’ve been moving into our new studio and getting everything setup for the recording. Sadly the phone company are clearly not as excited about this as we are and they’re taking their sweet time putting a line in, so we’re on pretty minimal internet for now.

All’s going well though, we had our official meeting with SliceThePie people on Tuesday, we brought them some cupcakes, they gave us some Jammie Dodgers.

More news soon, we’ve some interesting ideas to bounce off you guys, see what you think.

Take care,

- Kathryn, Daniel & Benji

New show announced in Derry, NI at Masons Bar on October 20, 2010

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 06:09:26 +0100

New show announced in Derry, NI at Masons Bar on October 20, 2010:

I Am Not Lefthanded has recently added the following shows.

.October 20, 2010 - Derry, NI - Masons Bar
Address: 10 Magazine Street - Map
Time : 10:00 PM
All Ages

See Full Details

October Tour and Free Single Download

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 00:57:58 +0100

To thank everyone who’s gotten involved with our fund-raising effort and to celebrate this achievement, we’re giving away a free download of Lifelines from our recent EP, Time To Leave, which you can download from here (click the poorly named Buy link for your free download!):

Lifelines by I Am Not Lefthanded

Before we lock ourselves in the studio in November/December, we’re spending a week in October touring around Ireland, trying out some new material for the forthcoming album.

The dates are:

14/10/10 - Baker Place, Limerick - Free admission!

15/10/10 - Lavery’s Bunker, Belfast - with The Tender Hips & Dolbro Dan

18/10/10 - Roisin Dubh, Galway - Free admission!

20/10/10 - Masons, Derry

21/10/10 - Whelans (upstairs), Dublin - PhantomFM showcase, free admission

23/10/10 - Oxjam Kingston, London

Full details as always at: www.iamnotlefthanded.com/shows.html

Financed! Where we go from here

Sat, 25 Sep 2010 00:43:51 +0100

We want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who invested in us in recent months. We’ve been blown away by your generosity, your words of encouragement, and the idea that you’re as excited to hear the album as we are to make it. We can’t wait to get into the studio and start recording in November - and we’ll be keeping you updated every step of the way.

What really surprised us though, is how many people contacted us to say they were actually disappointed that we’d disappeared from the SliceThePie site, now that we’ve reached the $10,000 target. (The last $1,000 came in so fast we think it caught everyone by surprise, ourselves included!) We’ve been emailed by people who were investing a few dollars at a time and aiming for a particular incentive, people we’ve just met while on tour in the US who wanted to get involved, and a handful of people who encountered technical difficulties while trying to invest during the last 48 hour period.

With this in mind - and after a lot of discussion - we’ve decided to keep fund-raising open until our original deadline, the 4th of November. Anyone who was trying to reach an incentive level, or just wants to support us can invest beyond our $10,000 goal at www.iamnotlefthanded.com/slicethepie.html - or send money direct through PayPal to invest@iamnotlefthanded.com. Any extra money that we raise lets us spend a little more on recording, mastering, promotion, and tour support to make sure that this album is the finest product that we can make.

We will, of course, combine the amounts that you have invested through SliceThePie and through our PayPal address. Sadly, we won’t be able to accept SliceThePie vouchers - only cash - as their system has moved us to the financed section. But while their vouchers can’t be used on us, there are several other great showcase artists that are definitely worthy of support - in particular Ryan Inglis, who has been working like a demon for the entire length of this showcase!

In no way do we wish to detract attention from other STP bands, and we’re absolutely thrilled and honoured to have raised the $10,000 that we have - this is just a top-up function for people who have requested it.

Again, a huge thank you for all your support during these last few months. We wanted to let you know that we were thinking of you all while we’re on tour, and stopped off at a nearby beach to write you a message…

- Kathryn, Daniel and (from London, receiving the photos of the sunshine with great humor) Benji

Hey folks, As you may be aware, the people at SliceThePie have implemented some pretty big changes...

Sat, 18 Sep 2010 18:04:02 +0100

Hey folks,

As you may be aware, the people at SliceThePie have implemented some pretty big changes recently. We wanted to take a moment to explain how they affect you.

One of the main things you might have noticed is that they’ve changed their operating currency to US dollars. You can still invest in any currency that you like - pounds, euro, yen, yuan, florins and more - but your balance will be shown in dollars. If you look at www.iamnotlefthanded.com/slicethepie.html you can see that we’re displaying our incentive levels in Pounds and Dollars.

In order to streamline the site, they’ve also dropped the investment side of their site and turned it into a strictly incentive-based economy. However we’d like to assure you that things have not changed for us. We’re very happy to be working with SliceThePie in our fund-raising project, but really the people we’re working for are you, our supporters. You’ve invested in us with the understanding that you’ll get a share of the profits, and we fully intend to honour that.

So from this point onwards, we’ll be running the investment returns ourselves.

We’ve had had to modify the math just a fraction to make this possible. For every £50 investment you will get one share in our album sales. Each share means you receive £0.01 for every copy of the album that we sell, for two years from the album launch. (For those of you working in dollars, every $75 you invest means you receive $0.015 cents for every album sold) If we sell 5,000 copies, you get your entire investment back. More than that and you start making a profit!

This is in fact double the old royalty that SliceThePie was offering - they’re no longer taking a cut of the sales, so we’re giving their side to you. This will hopefully make up for the fact that we’re not offering shares for investments of less than £50/$75 - although you will still get our fantastic incentives as a thank you for your investment. This isn’t a bid to get people to invest more than they can afford. We just realised that if we were trying to keep track of thousands of small amounts of money and ensuring each person received what they were due, we would’t actually have time to record and release the album!

As of this morning, we’ve raised $9.056, and are edging closer to our final goal. We wanted to thank you for your support so far - from kind and encouraging words to letting us know you’ve been telling your friends and neighbours about us - and to let you know we can’t wait to get into the studio and record. Exciting times are ahead.

- Kathryn, Daniel & Benji

New show announced in San Francisco, CA at Mission Workshop on September 28, 2010

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 22:16:59 +0100

New show announced in San Francisco, CA at Mission Workshop on September 28, 2010:

I Am Not Lefthanded has recently added the following shows.

.September 28, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - Mission Workshop
Address: 40 Rondel Place - Map
Time : 7:00 PM
All Ages

See Full…