Snowman play La Route Du Rock Festival, France this weekend

Snowman have been invited to play La Route Du Rock Festival in Saint Malo (France) this Friday. The band will be replacing The Horrors who had to pull out due to illness, and will be sharing the bill with the likes of My Bloody Valentine, Tortoise, Deerhunter and Crystal Stilts. Snowman hit stage at 2.30 am right after A Place to Bury Strangers.

After this show we will play a London show at the Legion (348 Old Street, Hackney) Sunday 16/08/09. We will be on stage around 10pm.

The band have been sinking their teeth into life in the UK. They have been busy writing new songs for their next record - word is they have stepped into the light after their post-apocalyptic sounding record The Horse, The Rat and The Swan of 2008. And they all headed to Iceland last month for the wedding of drummer Ross to bass player Olga! Awww...

We can't wait to hear the new sounds! Maybe the lucky French buggers will get to hear some of the new tunes this weekend.

You can follow their overseas movements by joining their group on Facebook.

SNOWMAN CALLING

Our favourite expats Snowman have been keeping very busy over in the UK playing shows with LA's HEALTH, supporting the Drones and winning fans far and wide including The Bad Seeds/Grinderman's Jim Scalvunous.
Joe McKee recently dropped us a line to let us know what's going on in the world of Snowman.

Hello all,

It's been a while between words, we know, and for this we are sorry.

We have been rather occupied of late...furiously writing for the next Snowman record. It is sounding like 'somewhere else' again. We have a title that seems to be sticking...we may reveal that in the near future....It seems to be guiding the sound of the songs.

We have played a few shows of late...most recently with our dear compadres The Drones...it was a pleasure to play with some friends again, rather than a bunch of strangers. Good ol' Jim Scalvunous of the Bad Seeds was there to witness our cacophony.

We played a show with LA noisemakers HEALTH about a month back...we thought we may have killed an audience member at one point...he just wouldn't wake up...but then he did. I don't think anybody has fallen asleep to our music before that guy.

We also played a night entitled POST-APOCALYPSE. We played a non-electrical reinterpretation of our songs...this meant lots of chanting and percussion....I recorded it on a cassette tape somewhere...maybe I will rummage around and transfer it to something more audible.

So, what does the future hold then? A UK jaunt with the Drones, our very own tour of France in June and then Ross and Olgas wedding in Iceland in July. Yum-Yum.

Much love to you all x

As aforementioned Snowman will continue supporting the Drones across the UK.

Here are the dates :

10 Jun - Hare and Hounds, Birmingham
11 Jun - Bodega Social Club, Nottingham
12 Jun - Manchester, The Roadhouse
13 Jun - Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
14 Jun - Captains Rest, Glasgow

The Horse, The Rat and The Swan is out now through Dot Dash Recordings.

Snowman nominated for WAMI

You can take Snowman out of Perth, but you can't take away Perth's love of their beloved Snowman.

The WAMI 2009 nomination list has been released and Perth expats Snowman, who have relocated to the UK, are up for Most Popular Album.

Winner is decided by Public Vote so get clicking!

2009 Public WAMi Award voting is now open at


www.perthnow.com.au
Voting closes 5:00pm AWST
Thursday 30 April

Snowman strip down and get tribal

A message from Snowman:

On the 5th of April 2009 SNOWMAN will be performing a set of non-electrified/tribal interpretations of their songs.

Also performing on the night will be Deradoorian (of New York band The Dirty Projectors) and Londons very brilliant Haunted Fucking.

Sunday April 5th
POST-APOCALYPSE
Cross Kings Basement
261 York Way, Kings Cross,
London.

to find out more, go here:
www.myspace.com/postapocalypsenight

That is all,
Snowman x

Here is Snowman getting tribal in Swimming With Sharks


www.thesnowmanempire.com
www.myspace.com/thesnowmanempire
www.last.fm/music/snowman

Snowman: The Balcony of Our Uprising

Currently calling snowy London home, Perth's Snowman have had an article published in the UK's main Australian newspaper, Australian Times:

Dear Public,

Music is a virus. It can only be contained for so long before it begins to evolve and to breed. The golden strain has now developed. There is no cure. It is airborne, floating in the ether. To attempt to capture it would be like chasing ghosts.

While the global economy crumbles before our very eyes and the fall of the American empire seems imminent, there is a sense that something artistically significant is afoot. As the recession spirals into the next great depression and the major record labels begin to drop like flies, the perfect breeding ground for music is born. From our darkest hours come our finest moments.

You can read the rest of the article here.

In other Snowman news, they'll be playing their first show in Paris on March 4th at La Mecanique Ondulatoire.
They'll also be supporting America's Crystal Antlers at White Heat in London on March 10th.

More details at their myspace.

Snowman honoured by Pitchfork

Snowman have capped off a busy year by getting an honourable mention for their sophomore album The Horse, The Rat and The Swan in Pitchfork's Albums of the Year list. Here's a bit of what they said about the album:

"The record is a proud enigma, technologically advanced and primal, referential but utterly unique, a terrifying vision of our Stone Age future."

Snowman released the album in May and following a national tour relocated to London. If you've been wondering what they've been up to, here's a message from Joe:

To those of you who give a damn,

We are sorry for the long silence, our communication methods were disabled. We have been busy building new lives in London. Slowly the empire is growing. We have found a home of some description, in Walthamstow, E17 (where the group East 17 once hailed from, though I doubt we will be channeling any of their magic). Our home is above an Italian cafe on a high street. On our doorstep there are markets. Most mornings I am woken by the sound of a cockney shouting "two for a pound" or "money back guarantee". I fall asleep at night to the sound of a domestic disturbance or a stabbing. There are seven of us living in the flat. We have one toilet. I am sleeping under a stairwell...in a passage way. Today I am locked inside the house as I have not been allocated a key yet. In time these minor issues will be resolved.

We all appear to have jobs now. None of which are worth mentioning other than Ross'. He is a garbage man.

We have played a few shows here in the UK. We played Leeds, Bristol and London with fellow Australian noisemakers PIVOT. They are fine gentlemen and a wonderful band. Dear chum and label sibling Ned Collette played a show with us the other night too.

We are working on some new things. Bits and pieces. Something will rear it's ugly head at some stage.

We hope you are safe and warm.

Love always,

The SNOWMAN Empire

Snowman will be playing at Madame JoJo's (White Heat) in Soho on January 6th with HTRK.

Snowman's First German Interview

German music blog Auf Touren has featured an interview with Snowman frontman Joe McKee. Joe talks about touring, musical influences and the band's songwriting process, particularly on their latest release The Horse, The Rat And The Swan...

AufTouren: Your brilliant last record, “The Horse, The Rat And The Swan”, takes a lot of time. Once you think you discovered it, you really really love it. I would say, it has got no real singles or instant hits and only works as a whole. How does it feel to release something that takes that much time in terms where people like to listen to silly ringtones?

Joe: Well, it took a long time to write. We spent hundreds of hours dedicated to the writing process and focused on creating a piece of art. It is, at times, a challenging piece of art, but all of my favourite art is this way. I think for art and music to truly move someone, it needs to be challenging and engaging at the same time.

For the full interview check out the Auf Touren blog.

Earlier this year Snowman relocated to London playing throughout England including several shows with fellow Aussie band Pivot and Ned Collette. The band are look on embarking tours throughout the rest of Europe and the US in 2009.

New videos from Snowman and Magic Dirt

Snowman - Daniel Was A Timebomb



From the album The Horse, The Rat and The Swan out now.
Hear more of the album at myspace.com/thesnowmanempire


Magic Dirt - Romy



From the album Girl out now.
Magic Dirt are currently on a national tour. Check tour dates at myspace.com/magicdirt

Snowman score 8.0 on Pitchfork

Snowman have only just relocated overseas and instantly hit the front page of PITCHFORK. The influential US music blog has given the Perth quartet’s new album The Horse, The Rat And The Swan an 8.0 review, describing it as “practically biblical in the way it strikes you with one hand while pulling you closer with the other.”

You can read the full review here.

The Horse, The Rat And The Swan is out now through Dot Dash.

www.myspace.com/thesnowmanempire

We Are The Plague