Oliver Wakeman News

From The Oliver Wakeman Mailing List:

As always seems to happen, when the website shows no activity that usually means that there is plenty going on in the background!

These last two months have been quite exciting and frustrating in equal measures but that's part of the creative process I guess!

Plans are moving forward for the release of Cultural Vandals and possibly some of my back catalogue too which could be very interesting. It would be great to get some of my albums which have been out of print for a while available again. But we will have a better idea over the next few months as to how and when these releases are going to take place.

Gordon Giltrap and I have been working really hard on our new project and a press release about the tour is due at the end of May with tour details for the first leg.

There are to be two legs, the first in late 2012 and the second in 2013 where we will hope to play some European dates too. Nothing is planned for the US at the moment unfortunately, but if the album is well received we would certainly like to play in other countries other than the UK.

The tour will be Gordon and myself performing as a duo but we may well put together a full band show if the album is well received and there is sufficient interest.

The album itself is taking shape really nicely and there is a great balance of songs and instrumentals. It has been really nice to work with a artist who gives me a lot a freedom and free reign to experiment with his ideas and some of the results have really surprised me. We have come up with some really interesting and accessible music which should please people hopefully.

All the music has now been written and we are now at the arrangement stage where we sit and listen to everything in its demo format and decide if there are sections which don't work as well as they should, whether a vocal line needs changing, whether a development of an idea should take place etc. We are also hoping that the line up of the musicians on the album will be decided upon over the next month or two and then we can start looking into the recording portion of the project.

It is a very rewarding point to have arrived at as this album has really taken over our lives for the last few months. I've really enjoyed working with Gordon, he's very easy going, very focused and, like myself, determined to make this an album that stands out as a special moment in our respective careers. I really can't wait for people to hear it but I know I've a lot of work ahead of me to get there, but it's work I love doing and I believe it will be worth the wait.

The proposed release for the album is towards the end of this year or early next year, but it all depends on which company takes the project and where it fits into their release schedule.

I 'tweet' regularly about the process (as you may have seen from the Twitter feed on the home page) and I am grateful for all the responses and suggestions I receive (even if I don't get time to reply to them all for which I apologise!). If you want to follow me directly then please do so with the following twitter name - @OliverWakeman.

The website has been updated with some photos from the CRS awards night (for which I was the guest presenter) and I will also be posting some pictures of Gordon and I when he is next here for a recording session. I have also just received a copy of the magazine Rock Society which features an indepth interview with me about my work with Yes, Strawbs and the forthcoming albums and projects.

I have also recorded a radio interview with Roman from www.krvr.com which will be broadcast soon. We'll let you know when it is due to air but my section on the show will be about an hour in length including music from the various albums I've been involved with.

So in between meetings, interviews, awards ceremonies, the occasional session and writing the album with Gordon...I've also been spending a lot of time buying baby stuff for our new daughter who is due in early July, although my wife is insistent that she will be earlier than that!

Told you I've been busy!

All the best, Oliver.