Category Archives: Wishbone Ash

Classic Rock Legends Wishbone Ash Set 2013 North America Spring Tour

wishbone ash

For Immediate Release

Classic Rock Legends Wishbone Ash Set 2013 North America Spring Tour

Danbury, CT – Wishbone Ash, one of the most influential guitar bands in the history of rock, kicks off the North American leg of their 2013 tour on February 28. The group returns to these shores following a successful spring tour last year to celebrate the release of their highly acclaimed studio album, ‘Elegant Stealth’, and on the heels of the ‘RoadWorks 3’ release, a collection of live performances.

During the Elegant Stealth Tour of 2012, Wishbone Ash played to full houses in the Northeast and Midwest. The upcoming North American Tour features many familiar venues plus several new stops, including dates on the West Coast and in Canada.

Released in November 2011 by ZYX Music, ‘Elegant Stealth’ represents a benchmark in the evolution of Wishbone Ash. Signature twin-lead melodies and a powerhouse rhythm section frame 11 new tracks that reflect a diverse realm of styles and moods.

Formed in 1969, Wishbone Ash has more than 20 original studio recordings and several live albums to their credit. On Elegant Stealth, the group coalesces around strong songwriting and serious chops. Founding member Andy Powell handles lead vocals and trades licks with Finland’s guitar wizard Muddy Manninen. Bassist Bob Skeat, a 15-year veteran of the band and in-demand studio musician, sets the pace with Joe Crabtree, one of the best of Britain’s new breed of drummers, having played with Pendragon and David Cross of King Crimson. The band demonstrates its versatility on ‘Elegant Stealth’, from the pop/rocker “Reason to Believe” to the gentler vibe of “Give it Up” to tunes like “Warm Tears” and “Big Issues,” where the band gets to stretch out and flex its musical muscles.

Classic Rock Revisited’s Jeb Wright called ‘Elegant Stealth’ “one of the best albums in Wishbone Ash’s 42 year career.”

Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck of MuzikReviews.com said, “This band is like a fine wine that just keeps getting better with age and this is one of their strongest studio releases in years.”

“The songs are catchy, very technical, but there is a soul in what Wishbone Ash is doing!” said Mark Kadzielawa of 69 Faces of Rock.

Citing Wishbone Ash as an influence on their style, Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Southern Rock outfits like Lynyrd Skynyrd and, more recently, heavyweights like Opeth and some of the guitar- based Indie/Alternative bands, have all taken a little something from the legendary twin-guitar approach of Wishbone Ash. Truly, there is no other rock band on the planet that has done more with the twin guitar concept than the Ash.

Tour dates and more information can be found at http://www.wishboneash.com/

To download electronic press kit: http://www.wishboneash.com/epk

Hear ‘Elegant Stealth’ songs on SoundCloud : http://soundcloud.com/wishbone-ash/sets/elegant-stealth/s-Uxgkt
Elegant Stealth Promo vid (1 min) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic-22ikCNSI
Reason to Believe Music Video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tr5sddw-bs
Making of Elegant Stealth – Rockumentary Trailer (3min55) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYsyHQoRriE
Live footage (Live in London DVD) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyGyJhadZh0&feature=related
Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wishbone.ash.official and stream some tracks from the new CD, ‘Elegant Stealth,’ and ‘Roadworks Vol. II (Live in Hamburg)’.
Wishbone Ash North America Spring 2013 Tour Dates:
February 28 – Tupelo Music Hall, Londonderry, NH
March 1 – Towne Crier, Pawling, NY – Featuring Argus Live
March 2 – Record Collector, Bordentown, NJ – Featuring Argus Live
March 3 – Ukranian American Cultural Center, Whippany, NJ
March 4 – Iron Horse, Northhampton, MA
March 5 – Bridge Street Live, Collinsville, CT
March 6 – Bull Run, Shirley, MA
March 7 – Sellersville Theatre, Sellersville, PA
March 8 – Iridium, New York, NY
March 9 – Mauch Chunk Opera House, Jim Thorpe, PA
March 10 – Wellsboro House; Wellsboro, PA
March 11 – Winchester Music Hall, Cleveland, OH
March 12 – Callahan’s, Auburn Hills, MI
March 13 – Fitzgerald’s, Berwyn, IL
March 14 – Pabst Theater – Turner Hall, Milwaukee, WI
March 16 – Festival Place, Sherwood Park, Alberta, BC
March 19 – The Venue, Vancouver, BC – Featuring Argus Live
March 20 – Jazzbones, Tacoma, WA – Featuring Argus Live
March 21 – Aladdin Theater, Portland, OR – Featuring Argus Live

More dates to come …

Press Inquiries:
Glass Onyon PR, Billy James, PH: 828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@gmail.com
Kate Goldsmith, kate_goldsmith@wishboneash.com


CLASSIC ROCK LEGENDS WISHBONE ASH SET US SPRING TOUR, CELEBRATE THE RELEASE OF ‘ELEGANT STEALTH’

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CLASSIC ROCK LEGENDS WISHBONE ASH SET US SPRING TOUR, CELEBRATE THE RELEASE OF ‘ELEGANT STEALTH’

4/16/2012 – DANBURY, CT—Wishbone Ash, one of the most influential guitar bands in the history of rock, kicks off the American leg of their tour on April 24, 2012.

The tour, which began in Europe early this year, celebrates the release of Elegant Stealth, the group’s latest studio album.

Elegant Stealth represents a benchmark in the evolution of Wishbone Ash. Signature twin-lead melodies and a powerhouse rhythm section frame 11 new tracks that reflect a diverse realm of styles and moods.

Formed in 1969, Wishbone Ash has more than 20 original studio recordings and several live albums to their credit. On Elegant Stealth, the group coalesces around strong songwriting and serious chops. Founding member Andy Powell handles lead vocals and trades licks with Finland’s guitar wizard Muddy Manninen. Bassist Bob Skeat, a 14-year veteran of the band and in-demand studio musician, sets the pace with Joe Crabtree, one of the best of Britain’s new breed of drummers, having played with Pendragon and David Cross of King Crimson.

The band demonstrates its versatility on Elegant Stealth, from the pop/rocker “Reason to Believe” to the gentler vibe of “Give it Up” to tunes like “Warm Tears” and “Big Issues,” where the band gets to stretch out and flex its musical muscles.

Classic Rock Revisited ranked Elegant Stealth No. 8 in its Top 40 New Releases of 2011, and Classic Rock Revisited’s Jeb Wright called it “one of the best albums in Wishbone Ash’s 42 year career.”

Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck of MuzikReviews.com said, “This band is like a fine wine that just keeps getting better with age and this is one of their strongest studio releases in years.”

“The songs are catchy, very technical, but there is a soul in what Wishbone Ash is doing!” said Mark Kadzielawa of 69 Faces of Rock.

Citing Wishbone Ash as an influence on their style, Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Southern Rock outfits like Lynyrd Skynyrd and, more recently, heavyweights like Opeth and some of the guitar-based Indie/Alternative bands, have all taken a little something from the legendary twin-guitar approach of Wishbone Ash. Truly, there is no other rock band on the planet that has done more with the twin guitar concept than the Ash.

Wishbone Ash US Tour dates:

April 24
Bridge Street Live
Collinsville, CT

April 25
Ramshead
Annapolis, MD

April 26
Sellersville Theater
Sellersville, PA

April 27
Tupelo Music Hall
Londonderry, NH

April 28
Mauch Chunk Opera House
Jim Thorpe, PA

April 29
Ukrainian American Cultural Center
Whippany, NJ

April 30
BB Kings
New York, NY

May 1
The Winchester Music Hall
Lakewood/Cleveland, OH

May 2
Callahan’s
Auburn Hills, MI

May 3
Midway Tavern
Mishawaka, IN

May 4
Fitzgerald’s
Berwyn, IL

May 6
Shank Hall
Milwaukee, WI

May 7
Wildey Theatre
Edwardsville, IL

May 8
Knuckleheads
Kansas City, MO

Tour dates and more information can be found at http://www.wishboneash.com .

Press Inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@cs.com

Interview requests: Kate Goldsmith, kate_goldsmith@wishboneash.com

To download electronic press kit: http://www.wishboneash.com/epk


Wishbone Ash Drummer Joe Crabtree Develops Innovative New Drum and Music Software

For Immediate Release

Wishbone Ash Drummer Joe Crabtree Develops Innovative New Drum and Music Software

2/15/2012 – London, UK – Best known for his drumming with UK classic rock legend Wishbone Ash, Joe Crabtree has developed new and exciting software for the drummer and musician. Crabtree, who has been creating music software for a number of years, is excited to introduce the RhythMachine, OctopuSequencer, Pyramid and PolyNome.

RhythMachine is a tool for generating rhythms and melodies and orchestrating them on the drum kit or pitched instruments. It can be used for ear training, creating vamps to solo over or generating grooves and fills.

“I began work on my first piece of software, the RhythMachine, back in 2008,” Joe explains. “It was inspired by some lessons I took in New York with Robby Ameen. In my lesson with Robby we were playing double drums – both playing a songo groove with a left foot clave. We’d play 3 bars of groove, then Robby would keep the clave going and play a 1 bar melodic fill on the toms. We’d go around the 4 bars again and my challenge was to mimic what he had played. It was challenging and I wanted to develop some software that would replicate that scenario. I wrote RhythMachine to do exactly this.”

OctopuSequencer is a tool for creating multi-layered grooves consisting of overlapping time signatures. Its core feature set allows you to easily program and manipulate grooves in order to discover new ones.

“To play the songo groove in RhythMachine I had to build a step sequencer,” says Joe. “I built in the ability to chose any subdivision rate between 1 and 32, and to loop at any point in the sequence. Once I’d written the step sequencer I realized that I could stack them, and that having four independent step sequencers would allow me to program some of the kind of grooves that Virgil Donato, Marco Minnemann and Mike Mangini were playing – grooves which are essentially combinations of different time signatures layered over each other. That concept evolved into the OctopuSequencer.”

Pyramid is an advanced metronome which allows you to easily program polyrhythms and the rhythmic scale. It includes features which make it easy to learn how unfamiliar rates and polyrhythms sound.

“Someone who’d bought OctopuSequencer asked me how they would use it to program in the rhythmic scale where you work your way up through all the subdivisions between 1 and 16,” Joe explains. “OctopuSequencer wasn’t designed to do this, so I spent a few weeks working with that idea and developed The Pyramid. It’s much simpler than OctopuSequencer but is an invaluable tool for all musicians (not just drummers) who want to become more familiar with unconventional subdivisions.”

PolyNome is the ultimate metronome for the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch.

“Soon after writing Pyramid I met Lucas Ives, a New York-based drummer who used to work for Pixar,” says Joe. “He had experience coding for the iPhone so we worked together to develop PolyNome, which is basically the metronome that I wanted to own. It has all the functionality of Pyramid and more. We built in the option to program clicks with bars of rest so you can use it to improve your internal clock which is proving to be a very popular feature among all musicians. So far we’ve had great feedback from Dave Weckl, Jon Riley, Peter Erskine, Will Lee and others. In the words of Dennis Chambers – it’s the s**t!!!”

“Wow! Polynome is a brilliant tool for drummers and any musician! It allows you to understand precisely what subdivisions among bars of time feel like, teaches you the drum rudiments, and so much more. I love ‘time check’ where it’ll leave bars of silence in between bars of click to see if your groove stays in time. One of the best apps for your toolkit, right up there with a good tuner!” – Will Lee – session bass legend (Late Show, Brecker Bros, Bette Midler…)

Joe Crabtree has been teaching drums for 16 years. He has recorded and toured with UK prog-rock ensembles Pendragon and the David Cross Band and has been a member of legendary UK classic rock band Wishbone Ash for the past 5 years. Joe’s website features many free lessons and software for drummers. “Joe is a drummer who has it all, he has an unbelievable ability to learn complex songs fast with an accuracy and power that makes it feel as though he has been in the band for years,” says Nick Barrett of Pendragon. “He has an astonishing flair for playing odd time signatures and straight fours with easy flowing technique,” adds David Cross, formerly of King Crimson.

Along with the marketing of his new software, Joe is preparing for a world tour with Wishbone Ash on the heels of their critically acclaimed new CD release ‘Elegant Stealth’. For more information visit the official website at http://www.WishboneAsh.com. Joe also has a regular column in Drumhead Magazine in the US. Finally Joe has this to impart to drummers around the world: “Never forget why you started playing drums in the first place. I’ve seen so many drummers get caught up in the business side of things and end up hating the instrument. I’ve always said that if it gets to the stage where I’m not enjoying it I’ll get a regular job and keep drumming for fun.”

For more information on RhythMachine, OctopuSequencer, Pyramid and PolyNome visit http://www.JoeCrabtree.com

Press Inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@cs.com


CLASSIC ROCK LEGENDS WISHBONE ASH CELEBRATE THE RELEASE OF ‘ELEGANT STEALTH’

For Immediate Release

CLASSIC ROCK LEGENDS WISHBONE ASH
CELEBRATE THE RELEASE OF ‘ELEGANT STEALTH’

11/11/2011 – Danbury, CT – Elegant Stealth represents a benchmark in the evolution of Wishbone Ash, one of the most influential guitar bands in the history of rock. Signature twin-lead melodies and a powerhouse rhythm section frame 11 new tracks that reflect a diverse realm of styles and moods. Elegant Stealth will be released on ZXY Music on November 25th.

Formed in 1969, Wishbone Ash has more than 20 original studio recordings and several live albums to their credit. On Elegant Stealth, the group coalesces around strong songwriting and serious chops. Founding member Andy Powell handles lead vocals and trades licks with Finland’s guitar wizard Muddy Manninen. Bassist Bob Skeat, a 14-year veteran of the band and in-demand studio musician, sets the pace with Joe Crabtree, one of the best of Britain’s new breed of drummers, having played with Pendragon and David Cross of King Crimson.

The band demonstrates its versatility on Elegant Stealth, from the pop/rocker “Reason to Believe” to the gentler vibe of “Give it Up” to tunes like “Warm Tears” and “Big Issues,” where the band gets to stretch out and flex its musical muscles.

Guest artists appearing on the new CD include Deep Purple’s Don Airey, who played Hammond B3 organ on the instrumental “Mud-slick,” and Ireland’s Pat McManus played fiddle on “Can’t Go It Alone,” which he penned specially for Wishbone Ash.

Citing Wishbone Ash as an influence on their style, Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Southern Rock outfits like Lynyrd Skynyrd and, more recently, heavyweights like Opeth and some of the guitar-based Indie/Alternative bands, have all taken a little something from the legendary twin-guitar approach of Wishbone Ash. Truly, there is no other rock band on the planet that has done more with the twin guitar concept than the Ash.

The band’s recent dates in Japan and arena shows in South Africa were a prelude to a 6-week European tour to support Elegant Stealth starting in early January. The States will be visited in April with summer festival work there and in Europe in 2012.

Tour dates and more information can be found at http://www.wishboneash.com

To download electronic press kit: http://www.wishboneash.com/epk

Press Inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@cs.com

ZYX Records: http://www.zyx.de Wishbone Ash – Elegant Stealth: ZYX GCR 20066-2