2023 update

Seems like annual updates are now the norm for us – so here goes:

Gigs:

April 5th – Acoustic gig at Monochrome, Polka Hop, Wakefield – 8pm Door: FREE

May 28th – The Lending Room, The Library, Leeds – support from Caper Clowns (Denmark) – 8pm Door: £5. Eventbrite buy now

May 30th – IPO festival, The Cavern Club, Liverpool – 8:30pm Door:£5

May 30th – IPO festival, The Cavern Pub, Liverpool – 10:30pm Door: FREE

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Upcoming gigs and more…

Our last IPO outing

April 30th – The Primrose, Leeds (support 8pm)

May 19th – The Cavern Pub*, Liverpool 6.45pm

May 19th – The Cavern Club*, Liverpool 8.30pm

(*part of the International Pop Overthrow Festival 2022 – free entry)

It’s been a couple of years since our last live dates: as you’ll probably be aware, we released our 5th album “When The Dust Just Won’t Settle” in the meantime, but haven’t yet had a chance to play the songs for you, so these dates will be your first chance to hear a few of them live. We’ll also be premiering some even newer songs which will be on the next album!

The band line-up is now Si on Guitar / Vocals, Rob on Guitar, Carl on Drums, with new additions Matt Lewis on Bass and Oliver Moor on Keys. The Primrose gig will be our first show with this line-up so adrenaline will be running high.

One last thing, if you haven’t seen the video for “The View From an English Breakfast” yet – you can do so here, as produced and directed by the wonderful Sam Johnston. make sure to like / comment if you get a chance.

We’re also planning on playing a full band online live show in the next few months, as playing internationally is unfortunately out of the question, so keep an eye on our Facebook / Twitter for more updates.

Thanks for your continued support – make sure to listen to us on Spotify / Amazon Music or wherever you stream your favourite tunes!

Merry Christmas

And here’s to a better year next year!

Well nothing ever goes to plan, so we didn’t manage to book in the gigs we were hoping to for the end of the year; the knock on effect is that we’re going to focus on the new album rather than promote the last one, which is already nearly 2 years old. Luckily this will mean that we’ll have loads of new songs to play you when we finally get out there – we’ll let you know as soon as we can get some dates booked!

However, we want to end the year on a high, by sharing a video for The View from an English Breakfast from 2020’s When The Dust Just Won’t Settle, that was shot (legally!) under lockdown conditions back in February and should have been released before we did some live shows. We want to thank (and apologise in equal measure) to Sam Johnston for the delay in getting his work out – it has taken us far, far too long to release this, waiting for the “right” time.

Anyway, here’s the link – The View from an English Breakfast – feel free to share and comment, we’d love to hear what you think.

Have a great day and look forward to seeing you all in 2022.

And not before time…

…an update!

So it’s now a year and a half since we released “When the Dust Just Won’t Settle”, and even though we got some great reviews, we never got a chance to go out and play the songs live or even go to the studio. Cheers Covid. Unfortunately the pandemic wasn’t the only reason – we had some line-up changes too. Just before the first lockdown we recruited Dave Naylor on bass, and things were going great until his circumstances changed and he couldn’t carry on (We really appreciate all your time and effort though Dave!)

Then, earlier this year, when the social distancing rules changed and allowed is to get back into the studio to rehearse we managed to find a new bass player, Matt Lewis and a keyboard player Oliver Moor. Since then we’ve been working on getting a set rehearsed so we can hopefully get out and play songs from the new album and some old favourites in the near future. Dates will announced soon.

We’re also working on a new album that will be out next year, acts of god permitting.

However, we’re really excited to be able to announce that we’ve got a new video for “The View From an English Breakfast” which will be released next week. Huge thanks to Sam Johnston, not only for his creative talents and his drive and tenacity to film this within the constricts of the lockdown, but also for his patience in waiting for us to get to a point where we can actually get his project out into the world!

Until next week then!

Album review round-up

Three months since When The Dust Just Won’t Settle was released, so probably the time for a catch up on the critical responses and the interviews we’ve done.

If they do the job and pique your interest, there are still copies of the ltd edition album via our Bandcamp site, or if you’re in the USA at KoolKat.

Reviews:

“… a wealth of songwriting talent… should be the go-to artist for restless indie aficionados in search of higher quality” – Music Interview Magazine

“‘I Think That She Knows’… may be the best Crowded House song that they didn’t perform on.” – I Don’t Hear A Single

A collection of twelve very accessible and rigorously constructed pop songs that come casually into the highest British tradition, intelligent but never cerebral, which stretches from Squeeze to Doves*” – Section 26 (*translated from French)

An abundance of memorable harmonies and… intriguing lyrics. 8/10.” – Maximum Volume

“‘When The Dust Just Won’t Settle’ is an album in the classic sense of the format: twelve songs that should be played in one sitting. Recommended…” – Here Comes the Flood

Album of the Month, May 2020” – Across the Universal Soundscape

Interviews with:

I Don’t Hear A Single – “There are no Power Pop bands, there are only Power Pop songs

The Music Files – “Yes I’m a tyrant

Across The Universal Soundscape – ” Weirdly, I suppose, I never wanted to be a musician

New album out today!

Captain Wilberforce - When The Dust Just Won't Settle_500mmx500mm

Here it is, released today, 1st May – “When The Dust Just Won’t Settle” our new album. 12 of the best songs we’ve ever recorded, and we couldn’t be happier with them.

Coincidentally, Bandcamp are waiving their fees today to support independent artists like us, so it’s the perfect time to buy the new CD, or download the songs, buy a t-shirt or catch up on our digital back catalogue, which is on offer for today at 20% off, for £7.20 (includes the new album!).

Reviews:

…the go-to artist for restless indie aficionados in search of higher quality” – Music Interview Magazine

When The Dust Just Won’t Settle is an album in the classic sense of the format: twelve songs that should be played in one sitting. Recommended.” – Here Comes the Flood

Album Launch / Listening party last call!

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So this evening at 8pm BST we’re having our online album launch / Listening party.

You can join us via:

Facebook

Twitter

or if you’d just like to listen to the new album in peace, without us wittering, they’ll be on Soundcloud – with each song being released publicly every 5 minutes.

You can also pre-order the album via Bandcamp and if you buy on the 1st May, it works out even better for us as Bandcamp are waiving all their fees on that day!

 

Second album review is a peach

With weeks to go til the album is officially released, we just got our second album review – this time from the well established and highly respected “Here Comes The Flood” music blog.

In summary the review says that ‘When the Dust Just Won’t Settle’ is “An album in the classic sense…” – but you can read the full thing here.

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Don’t forget, you can be one of the first to hear the new album at our album launch  listening party on 26th April.

 

Album Launch / Listening Party

So we find ourselves in strange, interesting and frankly scary times.  In the scheme of things another album released by some unknown indie band is a minuscule footnote in the War and Peace of current events – but to us, getting people to hear the songs we’ve worked so hard crafting, learning, recording, mixing, producing and releasing is hugely important.

Hopefully these songs can transport you from the savage reality of 24 hour pandemic updates, if only for the 43 minute run-time, to a less stressful head-space, leaving you humming some new earworms.

Anyway we want as many people to fall in love with these songs as possible and since we can’t head out on the road and bring the music to a venue near you, we hope we can entice you to join us on Facebook at 8pm (BST)* on Sunday 26th April.  We’ll be premiering the full album: streaming each song, with the opportunity to chat to the band, ask questions, and win prizes.

In the meantime you can listen to the opening song, Sad Machine and pre-order the ltd. edition CD here, and if you need a nudge, read this review from Music Interview Magazine.

Thanks for your continued support – we appreciate it now, perhaps more than ever.

* 8pm BST = 3pm EDT = 12 Noon PDT

Our new song ‘Sad Machine’ is now up on Bandcamp

 

You can now listen to Sad Machine, the first song from our new album, in full on our Bandcamp page at: https://captainwilberforce.bandcamp.com/album/when-the-dust-just-wont-settle
If you pre-order the album, you’ll get an instant download of Sad Machine.
Thanks to everyone who has already pre-ordered “When the Dust Just Won’t Settle” – you’ll receive your copy of the CD before its official release date of 1st May.
We still have CD copies of Mindfilming, Everyone Loves a Villain, Ghost Written Confessions for sale and they are all available to download for £1 (or pay what you feel).

Our 4th album Black Sky Thinking (and 5 track bonus CD) is available from Kool Kat Musik in the USA or you can download it for £1 (or pay what you feel) here.