Search Results for:

JOE GIDEON

Joe Gideon

Altered Self

    Back in March 2020, singer songwriter Joe Gideon was mid-tour promoting his fresh album ‘Armagideon’ when the pandemic brought his tour, along with the entire world, to a screeching halt. In the interim, Joe Gideon has been recording his follow-up album, ‘Altered Self’, set to be released on Labelman.

    ‘Altered Self’ is, like its predecessor ‘Armagideon’, produced by Bad Seed Jim Sclavunos. Gideon’s unique songwriting style and surreal poetic musings are very much in the fore, and although he and Jim are the sole instrumentalists, the album offers a menagerie of sounds including loopy synths, skronky guitars, sonorous bass, and lashings of bongo madness.

    Expect to hear Joe yowling and howling at the moon, screeching like a bird, as well as summoning listeners to join his ‘disco church’ congregation… and for all you entomologists, Joe promises at least two songs about insects.

    Joe’s previous music project together with his sister Viva Seifert, Joe Gideon & the Shark, enjoyed some successful (international) tours in the past.

    TRACK LISTING

    1. ArchaeoPsychic
    2. Bird Of Prey
    3. The Deforming Mirrors, Part 1
    4. The Deforming Mirrors, Part 2
    5. Life Cycle Of The Atlas Moth
    6. Arctic Moon
    7. Grizzly
    8. Spiders In Dreams
    9. Wild & Free

    Joe Gideon

    Versa Vicei

      ‘Versa Vice’ is the debut solo record by Joe Gideon, one half of the acclaimed sibling duo Joe Gideon & The Shark. After Joe Gideon & The Shark called it a day in 2013, Gideon called on the assistance of friend, neighbour and drummer Jim Sclavunos (Grinderman / Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) to try out an arsenal of songs and to see if Gideon could even play the guitar again, after a wrist injury put him out of action for the best part of a year. (Jim and Gideon became friends after Joe Gideon & The Shark toured with The Bad Seeds on their ‘Dig Lazarus Dig’ tour back in 2008.)

      Together they laid down the foundations of ‘Versa Vice’, recorded by Rich Matthews and finished by Gideon at home, after further assistance by friends Ed Harcourt (piano / organ) and Duke Garwood (horns) on a handful of tracks. The album was mixed by Head (PJ Harvey, Smoke Fairies).

      ‘Versa Vice’ is a rollicking storytelling romp through themes of love (see ‘The Lady With The Metallic Voice’) and madness (see ‘Eugene Went Crazy’, inspired by photographer W Eugene Smith, or his cover of Porter Wagoner’s ‘Rubber Room’), executed sharply with a post-punk / new wave bent (‘Naked Eye’, ‘Heart Attack Girl’) or with meditative tenderness (‘The Past Is Never Over’).

      Opener ‘Eve’s Rib’ is a heralding cry of intent, pierced through with Sclavunos’ fierce drums which drag you out of your chair.

      Fans of Joe Gideon & The Shark will no doubt recognise and appreciate the same spirit of his previous output, with his genuinely eccentric and character-driven tales of falling apart at the seams but ‘Versa Vice’ is more than just Joe Gideon sans Shark. Let off the leash, instead of losing himself to feral abandon, Gideon’s music has become more succinct, the music more immediate, the voice louder and clearer.

      Joe Gideon & The Shark

      Freakish

        ‘Freakish’, the new album from brother-sister duo Joe Gideon & The Shark, was written and recorded during, as the band put it, “most turbulent times”, referring to births, and deaths. This upheaval accounts for the 3 year wait for a second album.

        Debut album ‘Harum Scarum’ burst the band onto the scene, earning them a treasure trove of pull-quotes from all the right places (“an inspired band with fire at their fingertips” - NME, “a terrific debut” - Uncut), earning invites to support the likes of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Seasick Steve, with Time Out calling them “one of the best live acts we’ve seen all year”. Glamorous sister Viva (The Shark)’s showy gymnastic drumming was the perfect yin to Gideon’s bookish, charmingly awkward yang. The album showcased their compelling blend of driving alt-rock riff-o-rama, with runaway offbeat monologues and intermittent melodious poignancy.

        What we have here is idiosyncratic individuality on an entertainingly eccentric, possibly borderline lunatic, scale. We have songs inspired by Werner Herzog getting shot in the gut whilst being interviewed by Mark Kermode (‘The Insignificant Bullet’), true stories about being invited three years in a row to Elvis the dog’s birthday at the Queen’s Park bandstand, references to impersonating a priest, a cat called Sylvester, ping-pong, badly negotiating the London Underground doobied up to the eyeballs and ending up at the end of the line (‘You, The Pole And The Rastafarian’).

        Recorded, produced and mixed at Studio Plateaux on an island on the River Thames called Platts Eyot, by Kristian Craig Robinson - aka Capitol K - and Arp Cleveland - aka Mark - married to Viva, and chief conspirator of Archie Bronson Outfit. It was then mastered in Miami by Kramer (Bongwater, Shimmy Disc).

        Joe Gideon & The Shark

        Harum Scarum

          Debut album from stunning new brother and sister indie rock power duo, formerly of Bikini Atoll and currently one of Nick Cave's favourite bands. Joe Gideon provides guitar and unique, half-spoken lead vocals, telling darkly hilarious tales of his trips around the world (he once judged a Miss Bolivia contest!), while sister Viva provides backing on drums, keyboards and 8-track. She used to be a 'rhythmic gymnast', competing at the Barcelona Olympics and winning a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games.


          Latest Pre-Sales

          182 NEW ITEMS

          E-newsletter —
          Sign up
          Back to top