PURSON welcomes you to Desire’s Magic Theatre… a technicolour trip through the mind’s eye of songstress / vocalist / guitarist Rosalie Cunningham, whose signature approach to her craft stands boldly centre- stage, blending progressive dexterity and cabaret romp into a compelling, multi-faceted rock ‘n’ roll show.
Desire’s Magic Theatre draws inspiration from the rock operas of the late sixties and early seventies; musically, visually and lyrically, it touches on a variety of realms, including folk, prog, psychedelic, gothic & classic rock, making telling use of classical instruments and complex arrangements, and fully exploring the outer limits of reel to reel tape.
Says Cunningham: “Desire’s Magic Theatre has turned out to be everything I’d imagined and more! My world has been so consumed by it that I’ve barely been able to reflect on what it has become: a technicolour variety show, a playful display of the musical whims only briefly hinted at in our previous work; a psychedelic rock opera dedicated to our good friends Sarge Pepper and Zig Stardust.”
PURSON – Cunningham, George Hudson (guitars), Samuel Robinson (keyboards), Justin Smith (bass), Raphael Mura (drums) – have recently returned from a six-week tour of North America Special Guesting with GHOST, following on from a stint on the Kiss Kruise IV plus a sold-out Los Angeles debut at the notorious Viper Room.
Desire’s Magic Theatre is set for release on March 25th 2016 under the Spinefarm / Machine Elf banner, supported by a headline UK tour plus selected European shows; summer festivals and visits to Australia and Japan will follow.
UK HEADLINE TOUR DATES
March 09 Bristol, THE LOUISIANA
March 10 Nottingham, ROCK CITY
March 11 Norwich, WATERFRONT STUDIO
March 12 Milton Keynes, THE CRAUFURD ARMS
March 16 London, 100 CLUB
March 24 Exeter, THE CAVERN CLUB
March 25 Plymouth, THE JUNCTION
March 26 Southampton, JOINERS
March 27 Brighton, THE HOPE & RUIN
March 30 Birmingham, THE SUNFLOWER LOUNGE
March 31 Manchester, NIGHT & DAY
April 01 Glasgow, AUDIO
April 02 Leeds, THE BRUDENELL
Multinational breakthrough-band of the year, BLUES PILLS have released the official music video for the current single, ‘No Hope Left For Me’. The clip was shot by renowned director Patric Ullaeus (WITHIN TEMTPATION, EUROPE and many more.
In other news, the band has been confirmed to play Rock am Ring and Rock im Park 2015. Once again the band has accomplished something incredible with just their debut out: The four-piece, fronted by charismatic vocalist Elin Larsson will appear live at the two biggest and most important German festivals, taking place from June 05 to June 06 at Meding airport at Vulkaneifel as well was Nuremberg Zeppelinfeld.
The great coronation of a fairytale like story – entering the German charts at position #4, remaining in the charts for eight long weeks, playing a largely sold out tour and being praised by both fans and critics is what paved the bands daily life for the past months.
Tomorrow the foursome will kick of the French leg of their ongoing tour. All dates listed below:
FRANCE TOUR
BLUES PILLS
presented by MyRock
06.11.2014 F – Strasbourg, La Laiterie
07.11.2014 F – La Roche sur Yon, Le Fuzz Yon
08.11.2014 F – Paris, Le Point FMR
UK TOUR
BLUES PILLS
10.11.2014 UK – Bristol, The Fleece
11.11.2014 UK – Birmingham, The Oobleck
12.11.2014 UK – Manchester, Star And Garter
14.11.2014 UK – Milton Keynes, Crauford Arms
16.11.2014 UK – Glasgow, Audio
18.11.2014 UK – The Dome, London
Named after a demon and fronted by the bewitching Rosalie Cunningham, PURSON is the latest psychedelic proto-doom band with a mesmerizing female vocalist to cast a spell over everyone who hears them.
With elements of ’70s progressive and heavy rock, PURSON is in league with BLOOD CEREMONY and JEX THOTH, conjuring visions of Hammer horror and pagan rituals. What sets them apart are the incredibly catchy pop-like arrangements inspired by former bassist and founding member Ed Turner and Cunningham‘s borderline obsessive love of The Beatles. It only took a couple of songs on Soundcloud / Facebook to capture the attention of illustrious Rise Above Records and DARKTHRONE’s Fenriz, one of metal’s favorite arbiters of taste, made them band of the week!
Furthermore with a UK tour and the release of their new EP “In The Meantime” only a few weeks away, it is time for a gentle reminder… Tickets are available online through several ticket websites and most likely from the venues themselves. They are selling fast so snap them up now or regret it later!
A first taste of the EP is already available with the song ‘Danse Macabre’. Stated the band on its’ Facebook page: “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages… We proudly present to you ‘Danse Macabre’ the first track to be taken from our forthcoming Extended Player ‘In The Meantime’. We hope you all enjoy…“
After entering the German Media Control Charts on a most overwhelming #4, BLUES PILLS have released a new video for their album track ‘Gypsy’ (A CHUBBY CHECKER Cover) as a way of thanking their fans.
Stated the band on their Facebook page: “We made a home-made music video to the song ‘Gypsy’ from our debut album. We wanted to give something back to the fans as a “thank you” for all the amazing support! We shot it one night on tour, in our hotel room in Frankfurt. Hope you dig it!”
Furthermore BLUES PILLS have just recently sold out the Hamburg show of their upcoming headlining run in October. The show has now been booked to a bigger venue, called Uebel & Gefaehrlich. More shows on this tour will be sold out soon!!! Be quick!
BLUES PILLS
THE VINTAGE CARAVAN
presented by METAL HAMMER, ECLIPSED, ROCKS, VISIONS, METALNEWS.DE, BLAST!, NOIZELETTER, MUSIX & ROCK IT!
02.10.2014 DE – Leipzig, Moritzbastei
03.10.2014 CH – Pratteln, Up In Smoke Festival
04.10.2014 DE – Nürnberg, Rockfabrik
06.10.2014 AT – Vienna, Arena
07.10.2014 AT – Innsbruck, Weekender
08.10.2014 DE – Ludwigsburg, Rockfabrik
10.10.2014 BE – Antwerp, Desertfest
11.10.2014 DE – Kaiserslautern, Kammgarn International Blues Festival
13.10.2014 NL – Nijmegen, Doornroosje
14.10.2014 DE – Essen, Turock
15.10.2014 DE – Hamburg, Headcrash
17.10.2014 DE – München, Keep it Low Festival
18.10.2014 DE – Berlin, Bi Nuu
19.10.2014 DE – Frankfurt, das Bett
FRANCE TOUR
BLUES PILLS
presented by MyRock
06.11.2014 F – Strasbourg, La Laiterie
07.11.2014 F – La Roche sur Yon, Le Fuzz Yon
08.11.2014 F – Paris, Le Point FMR
UK TOUR
BLUES PILLS
10.11.2014 UK – Bristol, The Fleece
11.11.2014 UK – Birmingham, The Oobleck
12.11.2014 UK – Manchester, Star And Garter
14.11.2014 UK – Milton Keynes, Crauford Arms
16.11.2014 UK – Glasgow, Audio
18.11.2014 UK – The Dome, London
Up and coming multicultural Blues Rockers BLUES PILLS announced their upcoming European headlining tour in support of the band’s forthcoming self-titled debut album. The quartet will be supported by Icelandic label mates THE VINTAGE CARAVAN. Produced by renowned Don Alsterberg (GRAVEYARD, HORISONT), »Blues Pills« is set to be released July 25, 2014.
The album is already being praised by pretty much every rock magazine out there and described as “the debut album of the year” (Boris Kaiser/ROCK HARD).
TOURDATES
02.10.2014 DE – Leipzig, Moritzbastei
03.10.2014 CH – Pratteln, Up In Smoke Festival
04.10.2014 DE – Nürnberg, Rockfabrik
06.10.2014 AT – Vienna, Arena
07.10.2014 AT – Innsbruck, Weekender
08.10.2014 DE – Ludwigsburg, Rockfabrik
10.10.2014 BE – Antwerp, Desertfest
11.10.2014 DE – Kaiserslautern, Kammgarn International Blues Festival
13.10.2014 NL – Nijmegen, Doornroosje
14.10.2014 DE – Essen, Turock
15.10.2014 DE – Hamburg, Headcrash
17.10.2014 DE – München, Keep it Low Festival
18.10.2014 DE – Berlin, Bi Nuu
19.10.2014 DE – Frankfurt, das Bett
The first limited edition of »Blues Pills« will also include a special bonus DVD which will feature the band’s entire gig at 2013’s installment of renowned German “Hammer Of Doom” festival as well as a video interview with Streetclip.TV – see tracklist below.
DVD (Live @ Hammer Of Doom 2013):
01. Bliss
02. Dig In
03. Devil Man
04. Little Sun
05. Mind Exit
06. Astralplane
07. Black Smoke
+ Video interview with Streetclip.TV
The ten tracks of »Blues Pills« will also feature a cover version of the CHUBBY CHECKER classic ‘Gypsy’.
“It’s a song everyone in the band liked and we used to play it on our soundcheck. Slowly it worked itself into our set list, and now it’s going to be on our debut album as well. Back in the days lots of bands covered each other to honor the other artist, and they did it with their own touch on it. Some examples are, JIMI HENDRIX ‘All Along the Watchtower’, JANIS JOPLIN ‘Tell Mama’, ‘Summertime’ and ‘Ball and Chain’, or JOE COCKER ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’, everyone was doing it with the right reason. For us, we want to honor CHUBBY CHECKER and also bring it back to life by doing the cover version the BLUES PILLS way. Hopefully people like both versions and, yeah, it’s just a killer tune.“ – BLUES PILLS
»Blues Pills« Tracklist:
01. High Class Woman
02. Ain’t No Change
03. Jupiter
04. Black Smoke
05. River
06. No Hope Left For Me
07. Devil Man
08. Astralplane
09. Gypsy (CHUBBY CHECKER cover)
10. Little Sun
The cover art (as seen in the tour poster) was created by legendary artist Marijke Koger-Dunham (THE BEATLES, CREAM).
Commented the band: „The artwork is by the incredible artist Marijke Koger-Dunham. She painted it sometime in the late 60ies, and because we were looking for some 60ies inspired artwork, we thought “what could be better?” For us, it is a representation of the balance of life, as shown in all the symbolism of natural dualities such as darkness and light, sun and moon, life and death, etc. It shows how opposite forces are interconnected and compliment each other to form a whole. Besides that, it just looks absolutely amazing!“
The band will be playing the following open air events this summer:
27.06.2014 NO Steinkjerfestivalen, Steinkjer
04.07.2014 NO Skanevik Blues Festival, Skanevik
10.07.2014 CH Montreaux Jazz Festival, Montreaux
11.07.2014 AT Clamrock, Klam
12.07.2014 AT Lovely Days Festival, Wiesen
17.07.2014 LT Devilstone Festival, Vilnius
24.07.2014 CH Blue Balls Festival, Luzern
25.07.2014 IT Totem Psychfest, Rome
26.07.2014 DE Wilwerath Rock City, Wilwerath
28.07.2014 UK St. Pancras Old Church, London
31.07.2014 DE Burg Herzberg Festival, Breitenbach am Herzberg
01.08.2014 DE Krach am Bach, Beelen
02.08.2014 DE Labertal Festival, Schierling
07.08.2014 NO Oya Festivalen, Oya
09.08.2014 SE Getaway Rock Festival, Gävle
14.08.2014 DE Summer Breeze, Dinkelsbühl
16.08.2014 PT Sonic Blast, Moledo Do Minho
22.08.2014 CH Open Air Gränichen, Gränichen
23.08.2014 NO Parken Festival, Bodo
Hype, Retro wave, back to the roots – whatever one might name the ongoing tendency towards low-fi productions, vintage equipment and a pleasant way of reducing music to the essentials. Lessening their own possibilities, so to speak, many a band maybe finds a more immediate approach to its own skills. Among those PURSON seem to stick out, not so much concerning the fact that the band is led by a woman – the, both incredibly young and talented Rosalie Cunningham – but far more with their sound. Specially this kind of genre holds many female musicians and names such as BLOOD CEREMONY, JEX THOTH, JESS AND THE ANCIENT ONES, SPIDERS, ROYAL THUNDER and many more come to mind. All of those are associated with the Rock/Metal scene, while PURSON seem to inhabit their own alcove, full of 60s vibes and bright colours.
To talk about a current matter at first: You have just been on the road supporting ASTRA, but had to cancel quite a few dates, among them your participation at this years’ ROADBURN in Tilburg. Do you want to tell the reason(s) for this?
We had a wonderful time on the road with ASTRA and would have loved to have joined them on the rest of the tour but we simply couldn’t afford it. With van hire, hotels and everything, we would have lost so much money.
PURSON (l.t.r.): Samuel Shove – Organ, Mellotron, Wurlitzer, Justin Smith – Bass, Rosalie Cunningham – Vocals, Lead Guitar, Jack Hobbs – Drums, George Hudson – Guitars, Backing Vocals – Courtesy of Ester Segarra
Are there any plans so far to tour outside the UK in the near future?
We have a few things on the horizon but once again, that depends on how much we will be paid for the gigs. If we can’t cover our costs, we won’t be able to tour.
PURSON seems to be a band with a strong virtual concept – is this just my personal impression or do you actually plan in things like stage clothes, vinyl-colour ect?
We wear the same clothes on stage as we do off stage. We love to dress up, myself and Sam especially, and it’s part of the fun of being in a band for us. We get to live out our wildest wardrobe dreams as part of the job description! I think it’s important for the visual side to reflect the world we create with our music. The vinyl colour isn’t much to do with us… it’s something that Rise Above like to do.
Do you collect records and what do you think about this, let me call it, policy of Rise Above to publish things as very strictly limited editions that sell out so fast, most people won’t even be able to pre-order upcoming releases?!
I know that this policy upsets a lot of people and I have to agree, it doesn’t make much sense to me. I am not an avid collector, I have what I need. I am not concerned about having first pressings or a certain colour of vinyl. The music itself is far more important to me.
The Heavy Metal-scene has changed quite a bit during the last… I don’t know ten (?) years. There’s the heck of a lot of vintage sounding bands around right now. Do you think a band like PURSON could’ve been around ten years ago?
I was pretty much a child 10 years ago so I can’t say exactly. I have also never been involved in the heavy metal scene. I have liked certain heavy bands but have never considered myself part of any scene associated with it.
At best (or earliest) the 70s have been present in Heavy metal/hardrock music pretty much, but the 60s never seemed to be much of an issue – cept for HENDRIX – your sound (e.g. “Leaning On A Bear”) seems to have more of a 60s (pop) vibe than it’s common for bands outside the Garage-Punk-scene. How important is that period for you?
Debut album, “The Circle And The Blue Door” released 29th April 2013
This period is especially important for me in terms of songwriting. I was into 60’s pop before I was into anything heavier or prog. Bands like THE BEATLES, THE MOVE, THE SMALL FACES, THE KINKS and a lot of obscure pop psych bands are more of an influence for me and I will always appreciate a well crafted pop song more than any riff. I suppose that is what sets us apart from the other vintage sounding bands around.
There are two aspects about your music that might (judged from my experience as a record dealer) make it not that easy to sell your records to the average metal or even rock-fan; groove and female lead vocals in combination. A couple of buyers have already turned the single down when I recommended it to them. One reasoning it would be “too funky”.In my personal opinion the amount of shuffle is what makes the song cool. I love the short stop on the bass drum and hihhat during the chorus. Would you consider Purson as being “funkier” than the average metal or rock band? And did soul music or jazz have any sort of influence on any individual in the band?
Haha, I’ve never thought of us as funky but I suppose compared to classic metal we are. We like to play with a bit of swing and groove which I think is quite typical of rock music… I mean BLACK SABBATH! They definitely have a jazzy feel sometimes, especially early stuff. I think the jazz influence comes more from things like that and other jazz-rock and prog rather than jazz itself, which I don’t really listen to.
Rosie Cunningham – Courtesy of Ester Segarra
(to Rosalie) You been referring to yourself as a ‘control freak’ several times. How far do you take that? And is that habit only related to music?
I’m pretty chilled out with everything else actually. The first album was made under very difficult circumstances and I was determined for it to turn out the way I had planned and so I did become a control freak there. I don’t compromise at all with my music. I do have a tendency to want to do everything myself but I’m slowly learning that it’s not how a band works…
Thanks a lot for this Interview – if there is anything else you want to send out into the universe, feel free to do so right now!
As dawn breaks across a farm in Bethel, State New York on monday, August 1969 Jimi Hendrix and his newly formed band “Gypsy Sun & Rainbows” finally enter stages of what will become to worlds’ most memorable festival: Woodstock – their performance itself is a landmark, called one of the best in all of Rock history.
At a time when the infamous “Three Days of Peace & Music” were supposedly over, tens of thousands of spectators enjoy some of greatest songs written: “Voodoo Child”, “Purple Haze” or “Foxy Lady” to name but a few. A most notorious moment has to be Hendrix’ version of the US National Anthem “Star Spangled Banner” which will give shivers to conservative generations to come.
In honour of Jimi Hendrix’ 70th birthday, which would have been November 27th, 2012 his legendary performance will be shown on the big screen for the first time ever, uncut and in a special 5.1. cinematic mix. This music movie uses material of Academy Award winning producer Micheal Wadleigh.
Don’t miss the chance to be part of this event on December 6th at 20:00h in the following UCI cinemas: Ruhr Park (Bochum), Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Hürth Park (near Cologne), Othmarschen Park (Hamburg), Mundsburg (Hamburg), Friedrichshain (Berlin), Elbe Park (Dresden), Gera, Millennium City (Vienna).
Tickets at a price of 12€ are available online at UCI homepage, via UCI App and all participating UCI cinemas!
As the San Francisco scene was about to bloom during the 60s Marla, Denise, Mary Ellen, Diane and Mary (left to right) found each other right in the middle of it: Ashbury and Waller St. where they played their first few notes, in Golden Gate Park’s Panhandle with the smell of patchouli oil in the air, and where they opened for Jimi Hendrix. It was a creative time when you could choose to pursue anything that was new. It was a time of change, people could be anything that they wanted and music was the most important thing the express this spirit.
The Ace of Cups at Golden Gate Park’s Panhandle
The Ace of Cups played for the sake of the music, not for the possibility of stardom. Although with the no other girl bands around during that time in San Francisco the possibility was there. The band’s name came from a Tarot card: Five streams of water flowing from the hand of the Almighty The five girls were going with the flow wich took them to the Straight Theater on Haight St., the Avalon Ballroom, the Fillmore, where Bill Graham introduced their opening, the Carousel Ballroom, on the road with Jefferson Airplane to Vancover, Canada and to Winterland opening for The Band. In Chicago, where they opened for Muddy Waters and Michael Bloomfield, they went to the south side with renowned drummer Sam Lay where he had the Ace of Cups play at his club.
Inspired by Joan Baez, Mary Ellen Simpsons started guitar lessons were at age twelve with a woman named Naomi Heali in the desert. Later when she was about twenty and a psychology major at San Jose State she met Jorma Kaukonen, before Jefferson Airplane even existed, and he gave her a couple of lessons on playing old blues.With stanting ovations after winning first place at a high school talent contest, Mary’s mind directed her towards playing music professionally.
Born and raised in San Francisco, Diane Vitalich listened to the big band sounds and loved the jazzy vocalists. She took piano lessons, ballet, tap dancing, and modern dance. During high school she was singing and dancing in a doo-wop group, and hung out at Mel’s drive-in where the outdoor waitresses wore roller skates. It was the drums that made Diane dance and she began sitting in with any band that would let her just to get the experience of playing drums in a band. She even dreamed of playing drums in a all-girl group, and that’s what happened.It was 1966 in the Haight Ashbury district that Diane met the girls who would become The Ace of Cups, and she would be dedicated to this group until 1972.
Mary Gannon was 23 when the band first got together. She worked as a Kelly Girl and then at First Savings and Loan as a receptionist/secretary, was attending night school at UC Berkeley and also San Francisco State. The year was 1965.
Things started to happen – very low key: after quitting her bank job and dancing at a “Go-Go” place for a while, Mary hooked up with Marla somewhere in the mix of fresh communes and off beat music.
Marla Hanson was born in San Francisco into a musical family. Her father played guitar and piano. He was also a writer. Her mother was a Columbia starlet and met her dad at the studios in Los Angeles, California where they lived before Marla was born. By the time she was 18 Marla hated L.A. and was ready to do anything but stay there. Together with her friend Joel Beverly she decided to went to San Francisco. With only a bunch of stuff in a laundry bag they took a bus to SF had no place to stay. They made their way to Haight and Ashbury. Marla ended up living at 408 Ashbury, a block from the Haight, in a commune. There was an old upright piano there that she got to play.
Marla met Mary Gannon on Haight Street at Tracy’s Doughnut Shop and they became friends. Mary lived on Waller Street and there was an old upright piano in her basement. That is where Mary first got the idea of starting an all girl band. So the two tried to start one and it became the Ace Of Cups. One night Mary was skimming through a commune in upper Haight, and came upon a furnitureless room which was dark except for the fire of a beautiful female drummer sitting at a complete drum set and playing away. Another time a guy was hanging around and lent Mary a bass to learn it. That same guy knew a girl named Mary Ellen who played guitar.
The girls didn’t have a “concept” at that time – a thought of what they were going for, but that was soon gonna change when the fireball with the cowboy boots and a full set of harmonicas showed up. She was Denise – Denise Kaufman has been enthralled by words and music for as long as she can remember. Studying piano at the S.F. Conservatory of Music, spending five years in an amazing theater company called The San Francisco Children’s Opera and spending summers living outdoors in the Santa Cruz Mountains at Deep Woods Camp for Girls where she learned to sing harmonies under the redwoods and the stars. She wrote poetry as a child, studied piano for seven years, then started playing guitar at 14.
By the time she met Mary Ellen at Blue Cheer’s house and had a great time jamming with her. She had already been playing with Marla, Mary and Diane and invited me to come meet them. The idea of playing in a band of females was completely bizarre to Denise. During the early phase of the Ace of Cups all members lived in the Haight and often practiced at Fantasy Records where Denise worked. Her boss Max Weiss had even helped them rent an organ, a couple of amps and some drums. In a couple of months The Ace of Cups had about ten songs.
Over the years the Ace of Cups never lost track of each other and even had a reunion on Kauai, Hawaii where they played and recorded music, swam in the ocean, broke bread, and celebrated a record deal with Ace Records.
Photo by Peter Brenchley
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