Gary Nock joins line up for Liberation launch

We are delighted to announce that the fantastic singer-songwriter Gary Nock will be joining us at our album launch, opening the night on Tuesday, April 10 at London's Hoxton Bar & Kitchen. You will have probably heard Gary's sound on last year's Mars TV advert, which used his wonderful track Make It Better. You can buy Gary's album here and tickets for the Liberation album launch are available from Ticket Web, We Got Tickets and See Tickets. 

Chris Hawkins plays Liberation Theology

Thanks so much to BBC DJ Chris Hawkins, who played Liberation Theology on his 6 Music show today and called the track "intelligent, grown up and soulful". We played Chris's Wagon night in February and it's been great to have him supporting our music this year. Listen back to the show here. Liberation Theology, the first track on our critically-acclaimed debut album, comes on at 13 minutes. You can buy the song and the album on iTunes here.

Cyrus Shahrad on keys again at LP launch

We are going to be lucky enough to welcome back Cyrus Shahrad into the band line up for the Liberation album launch on April 10 at the Hoxton Bar and Kitchen. This will be the first show we have played as a four piece since last summer and it will be great to have Cyrus back on keys for the event - our biggest UK gig of the year so far. Cyrus - who has been throwing himself fully into producing magical electronica as Hiatus - has been there since the start of the band, played on all the tracks on our album and he is also contributing to the new recordings we are working on. Tickets for the night can be bought in advance from We Got Tickets, TicketWeb and See Tickets.

Flickering on Tom Robinson's 6 Music show

Big thanks to Mark from the excellent Mahogany Blog for playing Flickering - the new Hiatus track featuring Smoke Feathers - on Tom Robinson's 6 Music show last night. You can listen back by forwarding to the 52nd minute of the show via this link. Mark called the track an "inspired work" that "left us hungry for more". Flickering is the first track to see daylight from a three-track EP that I have had the privilege to work on with our old friend Hiatus. It is available for free download here. Stay tuned for more details on the forthcoming EP release and the video for the lead track, Change Up.

John Blood to support at Liberation launch

We are very pleased to announce that one of the finest independent Afrobeat-reggae-soul collectives in the UK - John Blood & The Highlys  - will be supporting us at the Liberation Album Launch at the Hoxton Bar & Kitchen on Tuesday, April 10. John, who starred on our Caribbean tour in November, and his mindblowing band The Highlys have just released a wonderful 8-track EP called These Times, which we highly recommend you check out before the night. More surprises to come... Tickets for the show can be bought in advance from Ticket Web, We Got Tickets and See Tickets.

Session on Janice Long Presents goes live

The three live tracks and interview we recorded with BBC Radio 2 DJ Janice Long for her Janice Long Presents web station are now live, so please check them out by clicking here. We recorded three songs - South America, We Will Maintain and Liberation Theology from our critically-acclaimed debut album Liberation - and talked with Janice about the band and the inspiration behind some of the tracks. Janice has been a great champion for Smoke Feathers in recent months, giving us some of our first major radio play and coming down to gigs when she can, so we'd like to say a big thank you to her for asking us to be involved in the launch of this new venture. Don't forget we have our album launch at Hoxton Bar & Kitchen on Tuesday, April 10.

Free track from Hiatus feat. Smoke Feathers

One of the most enjoyable musical experiences I've had for a long time has been working with my old friend Cyrus Shahrad on a collaborative EP for his Hiatus electronica project. Here's a free download of B-side Flickering to give you a taste of what's to come. We are in the process of shooting a video for the lead track Change Up  and a third track, Book of Prayer - with lyrics and melody from yours truly alongside trademark Hiatus musical production magic - also features on the release. We hope you like what you hear.

LP launch at Hoxton Bar & Kitchen - April 10

We are holding an album launch party for our Liberation LP at the Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen near Old Street on Tuesday, April 10. We are planning a few surprises for the launch, which is being co-hosted by our old friends Pull Up The Roots, purveyors of the finest intimate gigs in London. So grab an early ticket and we'll keep you updated on the details as we go. It's going to be a very big show for us, so we'd really appreciate your support by sharing this post with your friends and coming down on the night to celebrate with us. The album has got a great reception so far with some glowing reviews from Uncut, R2 and Maverick and we'd like to thank everyone who has bought it already. You can buy the album on iTunes here and we will be selling CDs at the launch. Tickets for the show can be ordered in advance for six pounds from TicketWeb, We Got Tickets and See Tickets.

Uncut gives Liberation a great 7/10 review

Uncut's Terry Staunton says there are "shades of Jackson Browne and Paul Simon" in a "vivid series of folk-tinged portraits" on our debut album Liberation, in a cracking 7/10 review in the April edition. Big love to Terry for covering the release of the album. We've had some really positive feedback about the record so far and hope you are enjoying it. If you haven't got a copy yet, Liberation is available on iTunes here and at any of our upcoming gigs.

Supporting Thomas Dybdahl in Holland

We are very excited to announce we will be supporting the exceptional Norwegian singer-songwriter Thomas Dybdahl on the Netherlands leg of his European tour. We are playing four dates with Thomas - Rotterdam, Den Bosch, Ottersum and Amsterdam - between March 8-11. The Rotterdam and Amsterdam shows are already sold out but apparently there are a few tickets available for the Den Bosch and Ottersum shows, so grab one now before they go if you are in the area. It's our first trip to the Netherlands to play and it's a real privilege to be asked to be part of these shows which mark the tenth anniversary of Thomas' debut album, That Great October Sound.

Thursday, March 8 - LantarenVenster, Rotterdam
Friday, March 9 - Perron 3, Den Bosch
Saturday, March 10 - Roepaen Monastery, Ottersum
Sunday, March 11 - De Duif, Amsterdam

Liberation LP now for sale on iTunes

After getting a lot of requests from friends, family and fans - and some great reviews and coverage - over the last couple of months, we have decided to make the Liberation album available in digital format ahead of its scheduled and official CD release date. The album has been awarded three 4* reviews so far and we hope you like what you hear. For those of you who have been following us since day one, thank you for sticking with us and we really hope it's been worth the wait. The album consists of 11 songs and was produced by ourselves and the exceptionally patient and creative Chris D'Adda at his vintage Vale Studios in the wilds of Worcestershire. You can buy Liberation from iTunes by clicking here. Please share this with as many people as you can to help spread the word. We promise the next one won't take so long.

Listen back to our Resonance FM interview

If you missed our appearance on Friday night's Soundcheck show on Resonance FM, you can listen back to our interview with host James Hodder and the three songs we showcased from the Liberation LP by clicking on his Mixcloud page here. We talked about the making of the album at Vale Studios, the origin of some of the songs and Stu's fantasy stage costumes.

"A great first album" - Maverick magazine

Britain's leading country, folk and roots music magazine Maverick has awarded our Liberation LP four stars and kindly called it "a great first album". Reviewer Nick Dent-Robinson says the album is "a musical journey that is hard to resist" with "beautiful harmonies" and he also praises the production skills of Chris D'Adda at Vale Studios, the wonderful place where we go to record all of our music. We'd like to thank Nick and Maverick for covering the LP's release - it's the third 4* review we have received so far.

Feature in Oxford Mail ahead of Dodgy show

The Oxford Mail ran a great full-page feature on Smoke Feathers in The Guide section today, ahead of our show supporting Dodgy at The Bullingdon on Sunday, February 26th. We did an interview with the Mail's Tim Hughes earlier this week for the article and would like to thank him for supporting us in the run-up to our album release. You can read the article by clicking on the image below (you may need to zoom in using your web browser). If you are in the Oxford area that weekend and want to come to to see us play with the mighty Dodgy, you can buy tickets here. We will be selling pre-release copies of our album Liberation as well as our new Belong EP at the show.

Interview on Resonance FM this Friday

This Friday's Soundcheck show on London's excellent independent arts radio station Resonance FM will be dedicated to our album Liberation, with host James Hodder showcasing three tracks from the album and broadcasting an in-depth interview with the band. We recorded the interview at Resonance's studios near London Bridge last night and helped select tracks for James to play - forthcoming single South America, Light Over Me and live favourite Once Revolutionary. We want to thank James for supporting the release of the album and also for being such a gracious host. You will be able to hear the show between 10pm and 10.30pm on Friday night on 104.4 FM if you live in central London and via the Resonance website if you live further afield. It's way too cold to go out at night anyway at the moment, so why not make yourself a nice Horlicks and tune in on Friday. If you miss it, you can catch up with the show by clicking here afterwards.

Another 4 star review for Liberation LP

To add to our lovely 4* review in the latest edition of R2 magazine, we have also received another great four-star write up for our forthcoming Liberation LP - this time from Linedancer magazine. Our 4* mark was for listening but we only managed to score three in the magazine's dance category. We hope you can all prove them wrong at the upcoming Dodgy gigs. We've heard those fellas can pull off a mean Hoedown Throwdown. You can read the Linedancer review by clicking on the image below.

On Resonance FM's Soundcheck tonight

Tune in to Soundcheck between 10pm and 10.30pm tonight on the excellent Resonance FM to hear some of our music given a spin. Resonance FM can be found on your dial at 104.4 FM. You can also listen in online by clicking here.

Vale Studios on recordproduction.com

Here is the maestro Chris D'Adda telling the world about his amazing self-built studio - Vale Studios - in a feature on recordproduction.com. We record and mix all our material with Chris at Vale and it's always an incredible experience to work with him and the unbelievable range of vintage microphones and equipment he has collected over the years. Chris has also created his own echo chamber, plate reverb and range of compressors. We can't recommend this place enough to anyone who wants to capture that beautiful, natural and classic sound you thought had disappeared long ago. Check out the interview with Chris and the tour of the studio here.

Album artwork by OneDrinPen's Ninety

We are currently finalising the artwork for the forthcoming release of our Liberation LP. The cover and sleeve art are being designed by Ninety at OneDrinPen, using images from a wintry, sunrise shoot with our old friend James Honey in south London's Crystal Palace park late last year. We're very lucky to be able to count on such talented characters to help us with everything - you can check out the cover of the album below. We love the results so far and hope you do too. Expect an update when it is all complete.

Collaboration with former Feather: Hiatus

I am very excited to let you know about my latest creative adventure with old friend and former Smoke Feathers keyboard dynamo Cyrus Shahrad, contributing vocals, lyrics and melody for his spellbinding and critically-acclaimed Hiatus project. We have been working on three new tracks together for an EP which will be released in the near future. The vocals were recorded this week at the magical Vale Studios in Worcestershire, where we laid down the forthcoming Smoke Feathers album, Liberation. Cyrus will now work his magic back in his south London studio to pull it all together. It's sounding very strong so far and it's a real treat to be making some music with Cyrus again - our first musical expedition since the summer. It feels like many lives have passed since we first started jamming Gentle Flame in a tiny, damp room, deep below our university residence, with the explosive Chris Lund smashing the skins. Needless to say, the situations have changed and the sounds have evolved, but the musical bond remains as inspiring as ever and an honour to be a part of. If you haven't checked out Cyrus's beautiful Hiatus album Ghost Notes, now is the time to discover it.