Herald

Just got a four-star review in the Sydney Morning Herald for the 'Canyons' album, so I'm pretty stoked about that. You can check out the full review here, but here's the text:

Chris Pickering CANYONS [Resuscitation Records] ★★★★

Recorded in Joshua Tree, California, and Nashville, Tennessee, Melbourne-based Chris Pickering's fourth full-length release resonates with the musical nous these places are known for. A melding of warm desert-rock with tinges of old country define his nine songs, heavy on the guitars, floating vocals, pedal steel and a smattering of strings. There's a shimmer to songs like Canyons, which opens the record, its guitar line carrying a subtle '60s surf motif as the steel moves in the background like heat-haze off bitumen, Pickering's voice swirling with it. Some psych bounce defines others, like Circles, which brings to mind a slightly less free-wheeling Chris Robinson Brotherhood, while others are stripped and acoustic (Andalusia, Broke My Own Heart), with the focus on Pickering's voice. The sealer is The Wash, which closes the record, a behemoth of a track that builds and builds, churning, finally fading out on simple picked guitar, quiet as the atmospherics simmer down and die. Co-produced by Adrian Mauro (Machine Age) and Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes), Canyons is Pickering's finest work to date: Americana taken to a glorious new level. SAMUEL J. FELL

If you haven't got it already, you can head over to the store page to purchase a copy, and now also available is the CD version if you would prefer a hard copy!

Silence

Our next show coming up is Dec 15th at The Retreat in Brunswick. We always have good shows there, and this should be no exception. Joining us will be our friend from Brisbane Greg Cathcart of Silent Feature Era, and he's going to sing you some of his tunes. It's free entry too, so what more do you need to get the holiday season into full swing? Not much, I reckon.

The Warm Evenings, Pale Mornings project is also entering its final stages, with a launch gig planned for The Gasometer Hotel on Dec 8th. It's not to late to pre-order a copy of the new vinyl (and it's going to really help pay for costs, so please do so if you can), which you can do by heading over the project's Pledge page here.

Last month, I had the pleasure of heading down to Red Hill to perform at Music on the Hill, and they captured some video of it, so here's me and my friend Erin Lisk performing 'Howl' from that show.

Spoils

Our next gig will be on Friday November 4th at The Pinnacle Hotel in North Fitzroy, with the band, and our good friend and talented dude Louis Spoils will be opening up. It's a Friday night, so come on down and enjoy some music.

Photo taken at Music On The Hill, Red Hill, VIC, on 7/10/2016, courtesy of MOTH and Robin Griffiths.

If you haven't already pre-ordered vinyl of the new 'Warm Evenings, Pale Mornings' compilation album (featuring me), then you can do so over here. It's a great project filled with great music and I know you're going to love it. Please support it if you can.

Pale

A project I was involved in earlier this year is getting off the ground and is being released before the new year! Warm Evening, Pale Mornings is more than a tribute album, it's an album of respect and love between a bunch of us songwriters and performers here in Melbourne. It was masterminded by Brooke Russell and Fraser Montgomery over at The Aviary recording studios, and you'll be able to hear it soon. Before we can put it out though, we need a little bit of help with pre-orders to help cover printing costs, but there's a ton of perks, including passes to the launch gig at The Gasometer in Melbourne on December 8th! 

Check out the details over here at http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/theaviarysessions

Milk

I'm up in Brisbane this week, and playing an album launch show at The Milk Factory on Friday September 23rd! You'll also get musical sets from the great Silent Feature Era, and a special once-in-a-blue-moon solo performance by Richard Johnston (Our Ithaca Creek). Cover's only $10, and it all kicks off at about 8:00pm. Come see me and the band kick it through our tunes in Brisbane for the only time this year.

The good people at The Northsider here in Melbourne featured me as one of their local artist profiles last week too. You can check it out here at their website.

If you haven't heard the new record yet, then you can do so by heading on over to the sounds page of this site and stream it - or if you want to support me (which would be great), you can buy and download it too.

Poster by the great Liam Eaton of Archer Illustrations.

Brisbane

I'm playing a show in Brisbane with the band! I guess it's like an album launch gig or something, just for the QLD folks. It's at The Milk Factory on Friday September 23rd, and will also feature my good pals Silent Feature Era and Richard Johnston (in solo mode).

Poster by the great Liam Eaton.

My album Canyons is out now too, and you can stream/buy it from the store, or from the usual suspects in Spotify, iTunes, et al. 

Launch

It's happening! I'm launching my new album 'Canyons' at The Gasometer Hotel on Sunday August 28th! It's a special early evening show that kicks off at 4:00pm with a performance from one of my favourite Melbourne bands On Diamond, then followed by Darling James, and then I'll be on afterwards with a specially augmented band to perform the album.

Pre-booked tickets are only $10 plus booking fee, and you can get them from the Gasometer website here. Otherwise, you can get them on the door for $12. It's been a while since I've done an album release show, so it'd be great to see you down there!