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l Finally, back in Spain. After way too many years! The only other times were in 1993 (Barcelona) and 1998 (Madrid). We don't visit this part of Europe as often as we would like to, so we're really looking forward to do these new shows. Another exciting event in another year full of musical challenges. Not only did we tour friendly France in February, and, after a hiatus of almost two years, did we do a series of concerts in Holland, but last month The Ex & Guests (with Colin on bass, plus three extra horns!) also just finished an amazing tour and cd-recordings with Ethiopian saxophone-legend Getatchew Mekuria. November 2005 November already! We’ve just released our singles-compilation Singles. Period., with all the songs we put out on vinyl in the 1980s, and now, on the 17th we start our ten day Tour of Germany, organized by Jeff of Maximum Booking. We’ll be visiting some known and unknown towns, and we’re totally looking forward to it, since we’ve been working extensively on new material the last couple of months. The first half year had already been amazing: In February we toured five countries in eleven days doing eleven shows, which, alas, also turned out to be the last tour with Rozemarie. Then we visited Greece, with Colin (ex-Dog Faced Hermans) on bass, after which we toured France with Massimo of Zu, missed a concert in Moscow due to a cancelled flight, still managed to play in St. Petersburg with most of our luggage somewhere in orbit, then did a reprise of the Convoy Tour at the Moers festival in Germany, and celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Schlachthof in Wels, Austria. Somehow we managed to sneak in one concert in Holland, a 20 mile drive which took us almost four hours, as Holland is a small country where the pets have four wheels and are called cars. Fortunately, in May and June we could stay in Amsterdam to practise for the cooperation with theatre-company d’Electrique, for a Dutch adaptation of Clockwork Orange. After four try-outs we had the premiere show in early July, played fourteen more shows, and then finished the exciting project with an Ex-concert accompanied by all the actors. After the Summer we decided to start from scratch again, working on new songs to replace all the old ones. At the same time we decided to stay a fourpiece, very basic and practical, and with the possibility to invite an extra person or more when the occasion occurs. Instead, Terrie and Andy both went out to buy a baritone-guitar, which instrument turns out to sound totally fantastic. Our first live-test, with all the songs still in the process of not-yet-ready, was at the Fusebox festival in Gent, Belgium, which was curated by film-maker Jem Cohen. Then three more shows in late October, more practising, and we feel we’re getting there. And now November has arrived and we’re off to Germany, a week later followed by one show in Brussels, three in Rennes, and two in Paris, the last one being with Têtes Raides, with whom we recently recorded a song called De Kracht for their new album Fragile. It will be a nice way to end the year. A Clockwork Orange Nineteen performances in total we had, with an absolutely amazingly inspiring bunch of people, in the enormous hall of a former shipyard in the harbour of Amsterdam. It started with one month of extensive rehearsing in the city, five to six days per week. The last weeks we practised at the location, across the water in the northside of town, from 8 pm till late at night because during the daytime people worked there, making even much more noise than us. The technical crew had build a ten by ten meter steel platform with wooden walls, which could be lifted up and brought forward towards the seated audience, and also sent 200 meters back to the other side of the hall. One could feel intimate and lost at the very same time. This music/theatre-project was a blast, and meant a fantastic experience to us. The total dedication of all the people involved (the actors, the director, technicians, the rest of the crew, you name it) has touched us deeply and was totally inspiring! And it’s not over yet! During four weeks in May 2007 we will do the same project in different cities in Holland. We’re already looking forward to that! In The Studio With Tetes Raides In between performances for A Clockwork Orange we had a quick visit to Paris, where we were invited by the people of Têtes Raides to participate on their new album Fragile which will be out in, we think, December. It was kind of a hit-and-run action: we took the train in the afternoon, arrived at dinner-time, and after a great meal we tried out the equipment and then together with Têtes Raides we worked roughly on the idea we had. The next day we practised together, and then in a few takes finished the French/English/ Dutch song called De Kracht (i.e. the force). Evenement No. 19 Just before the Summer sound-poet extraordinaire Anne-James Chaton, from Montpellier, France, released Événement No 19, a 40-page booklet with cd. Event number 19 recalls one day during a tour in France in 2003 of The Ex and Anne-James, told in his very special own way, both in print and on the cd. Also on the cd is an alternative version of In The Event from our Turn album from 2004. For the occasion Andy did a special re-mix of the song, on which, by the way, Anne-James also already could be heard on the original version. + + + Shortcuts Recently we received quite a few offers to play in countries we have never toured before: Brasil, Australia, Spain, Turkey, Iceland... Nothing clear yet about how serious these offers are, but who knows, we’ll see... +++ Music and Dance Company Magpie celebrated its 10th anniversary in early October with a whole week of special performances. We were honoured to be invited to play with them during the closing night. +++ Last May Katherina and Jon Langford toured Austria as the KatJon Band. In June next year they will do the same but then in the USA. +++ A new Ex Records catalogue will be out in January. +++ Tsehaytu Beraki’s double-album Selam will soon also be available in a more compact and cheaper format. +++ Mohammed Jimmy Mohammed, the impressive blind singer from Ethiopia, has recorded a full-length album for Terp Records. The cd will be out in March 2006, when Jimmy will play at the Banlieue Bleue festival in France, followed by a tour of Italy with The Ex. +++ Ethiopian saxophone legend Getatchew Mekurya can also be heard on Jimmy’s album, and he will also play at the above mentioned festival. +++ He will play there with The Ex, and together they will record an album, too, in April. +++ Meanwhile, in March 2006 Terp Records will re-release the 1983 Abflug recordings of the Drei Musketiere, Katherina’s first band, when she was still living in Stuttgart, Germany. +++ Also in early 2006, The Ex and Chumbawamba will play together again, for the first time since May 1993. The very first time was in September 1986! +++ Christina Hallström and Mandra Wabäck, the makers of Beautiful Frenzy, are selected for the Viper International Awards at the Viper Festival for Film Video and New Media in Basel, Switzerland in March 2006, with their short-movie Öö, about the Estonian composer Märt Matis Lill. +++ Meanwhile Andy is working with Emma Fischer on putting together a dvd with a musical and filmic impression of the Ex 25 Year Convoy Tour from November 2004. +++ Just when we thought that we would probably never be released again on vinyl, the Dephine Knormal Musik label in California (www.moestaiano.com) put out Knormalities v.3 Posthumorites, a 7² compilation, with Sleepytime Guerilla Museum, Voodoo Muzak, Cheer-Accident, and yes, The Ex. Our contribution is called Giant, which we recorded at KFJC radio in 1999. Due to a technical problem the vocals dropped out, but the mainly instrumental piece sounds totally cool. +++ Arriving with the night-train from Moscow very early in the morning at a cold St. Petersburg station, we received a warm welcome from our guide Tuyana, pictured here just before she said hello. +++ Meanwhile, Andy, Terrie, Katherina, Sok, Colin, Grrrt, and Arrrd say goodbye. +++ A News Letter 15-update will be out somewhere around early 2006. + + +
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