FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASESeptember 24, 2004
HOPEWELL LIVE @ TT the BEARS – FRIDAY OCTOBER 8th, 2004 @ 9PM.Lockgroove CD Release Party w/ Hopewell & Singapore Sling10 Brookline Street, Central Square, Cambridge, MA
(Boston, MA) Hopewell will perform at a CD release party for Lockgroove at TT the Bears on Friday October 8th at 9pm. Expect psychedelic instrumentation combined with raw rock enthusiasm and soaring soulful vocals, a combination that is too exciting to miss. Singapore Sling will also perform.
Hopewell’s music has been described as “uplifting, soulful, psychedelic rock” (Time Out London) “breathtaking, bombastic psychedelic rock with a dark turbulence at its heart” (NME) and “psychedelic pop that is visceral and dynamic” (Village Voice). The buzz surrounding the group has been growing with recent high profile sold out shows opening for British Sea Power (The Bowery Ballroom) The Sleepy Jackson (The Mercury Lounge) and Elefant (The Knitting Factory). Their recent collaboration with old band mates Mercury Rev and selections from the forthcoming ‘Hopewell and the Birds of Appetite’ (produced by Dave Fridmann) can be heard at http://www.hopewell.tv.
At age 19, Hopewell’s founder/lead singer, Jason Russo found himself traversing the world with the now legendary Mercury Rev. Years later and immediately following the tours for Rev’s breakthrough record Deserter’s Songs, he and his brother Justin (Hopewell’s then keyboardist now with The Silent League) struck out on their own to promote the critically acclaimed The Curved Glass. Hopewell played the Reading/Leeds festival in the UK, recorded a Peel Session and received XFM and BBC1 airplay. Extensive touring throughout the rest of Europe followed. In the states they enjoyed rave reviews in national press and crisscrossed the country playing to increasingly larger amounts of fans.
Since the birth of Hopewell the band has always born comparison to elder peers like Mercury Rev and the Flaming Lips albeit with a modern update and a flair for raucous soul aching drama. Given the group’s back-story and influences, it was no surprise that Hopewell eventually captured the attention of producer Dave Fridmann. Produced at upstate New York’s Tarbox Road Studios (home of The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev and Longwave), with Hopewell and the Birds of Appetite Hopewell has taken a mammoth leap forward in terms of songwriting, arranging, and constructed a ravishingly beautiful rock record that has truly refined both the beauty and damage always intrinsic to Hopewell’s performances. Without losing the volatile and visceral energy of their previous efforts, Hopewell has made a record that confidently steps beyond its influences – equally heroic and blissful, equal parts “Kashmir” and “Across the Universe”. Hopewell’s devastating live performances – unveiling a live act that supplements rock instrumentation with additional percussion, orchestral instrumentation, and shrieking horns – have recently drawn drop-jawed reviews from the most stoic of New York reviewers. Recent performances include sold-out shows at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom and the Knitting Factory, and coveted supporting spots with British Sea Power, Elefant, and Brian Jonestown Massacre, demonstrating that Hopewell is poised to expand their success abroad onto native shores.
Contact: Tyson Lewise-mail: [email protected]; telephone (24 hours) 917-716-7361
PRESS Spearheaded by Jason Russo, Hopewell play that sweet-dream psych-pop, you know the kind that starts off slow and melodic, then gradually builds to something of epic proportions. Makes you wonder how they get from point A to point B so well while maintaining those high soothing vocals. This band rewards those of us who like to pay attention.”Mike Ayers, Village Voice
“Hopewell’s psychedelic pop is visceral and dynamic, yet unstable – meaning you never know when the noisy bits will suddenly squirm out of a sugary pop cloud that twists itself inside out, and implodes. A band to keep your earholes tuned to for sure. It’s the baby of Jason Russo who did a stint in Mercury Rev – their forthcoming Birds of Appetite was recorded by Rev’s Dave Fridmann.” David Sean Bosler, Village Voice
“Hopewell’s recent recordings with Dave Fridmann sound fresh and dense, with stronger melodies than ever.”Time Out NY
“On its upcoming disc, “Hopewell and the Birds of Appetite,” Hopewell’s founder and lead singer, Jason Russo (ex-Mercury Rev), works that soaring, psychedelic croon familiar to fans of Grandaddy and the Flaming Lips”. Mary Huhn, New York Post
“…breathtaking, soulful psychedelic rock with a dark turbulence at its heart: the two elements tugging at each other until a music that is both disquietingly beautiful and emotionally powerful is all that remains.” Stevie Chick, NME
“Uplifting, soulful, psychedelic rock…Welcome to Hopewell, the home of beautiful music.” Chris Solmon, Time Out London
“Sublime, stabbing, psychedelia. There are moments of extreme grandiosity, crushing and immense, with billowing crescendos and flattening layers of feedback – but they are buffered by a sweet off-kilter romanticism. Hopewell have located the spot where the personal and universal intersect, rendering each moment both introspective and transcendental.”April Long, NME
Tour Dates, hi res photo’s and mp3’s are available at www.hopewell.tv