News

Fourteen day yoyo!

I came back from Athens with Ouzo and fancy sandals, a big smile on my face and a heavy anticipation of the rest that I was due from the amazing week The Vipertones and I had. But it didn't go quiet, no... In fact, things suddenly got busier and I was only back in the UK for a day before booking a last minute flight to Holland for the Friday of that week! It was crazy. We had an offer in from 'De Wereld Draait Door' to go and play on the show, which goes out LIVE and is a fantastic opportunity for us to play to millions of people who tune in to watch the show daily. What a great night! The band and I were all a little bit nervous, especially once we'd seen the red lights activate on the cameras. Matthijs, the presenter interviewed me and Ton, and we did our 1 minute edit of the single, ‘Am I Dreaming?' Such a buzz! And since then we've seen our single move up, down and round the charts in the Netherlands!

You can watch this live 1 minute clip on Youtube here AND you can also watch the full length version of ‘Man Of Your Word' we did for the show in the commercial break (which wasn't aired that night).

I came back to the UK the following day, for 2 hours. Okay, it was a little bit longer, probably more like 4 and a half days before I was catching another flight back to Viperland...and this time for a major radio show; Giel at 3fm (Netherlands) with a shocking 5.30am start for our road trip and it's wasn't long before all of us were busting out ‘Roof Off' and killing the subdued morning vibe at the station! Whoop whoop! We provoked comments in texts sent into the show like ‘Wow wow wow, Funky Funky!' and ‘Great! A not-drunk Winehouse' - totally hilarious. Of course, I was drunk, I just handle it better than Amy. Haa. Footage of the tracks we performed can be found on Youtube as well.

Recent challenges include: singing a Dutch name in a radio jingle based on one of the Vipertones tunes. Recent triumphs include: keeping the mic dry and pronouncing with unmistakable English/American twang. Ah well... I hope he liked it.

That morning (Friday 25th February) we drove from the radio station in Holland to our first gig of the weekend in Osnabrück, Germany. Fuelled by coffee, with lack of sleep and still high from the show, it was the perfect combination for some childish face-making in the back of the van. Ah, the amusement never tired, not for 2 days. Sorry guys, it wasn't only me. *ahem* ...you're just lucky the kazoo stayed in the bag!!

We played to a very excited crowd at Glanz & Gloria, and one of the highlights of the evening (besides a beautiful chocolate cake Ela gave us!) was being accompanied by Championship winning Bboys, Osnabrooklyn. They were wicked and brought some real energy to the night! ...I've done a different kind of sliding on my head to them, their move looked a lot more...thought out.

Then the following day we drove to Dortmund for our gig at Domicil. Wow what a stage! Nice size place and lovely lovely people at the venue too. A few coffees and interviews later we had a lot of fun on stage, made a great connection with the people there and sold a load of albums!

I'm really looking forward to going back to Germany over the next couple of months, and we have some dates in Brussels and Holland tucked neatly into spring too with some radioshows as well like 'Meike's Middag' and 'Tros Muziekcafe'. Still rumours of Montreal and Switzerland...but for now, we're busy rocking it a little more locally.

Finally, after a good old wait, we can tell you that part of our performance for WOMAD festival in Gran Canaria last year has been given permission to be uploaded online. SO, you can see it here. We've uploaded all new audio and videos to our website on the home page, so please do check it out if you got the time.

My next liaison with the Vipertones will be in Bremen, Germany on the 12th March... and I'll be full of birthday glee! I should think I'll be absolutely unbearable...again, sorry guys...but make my cake a decent size...and no joke candles.....or...jokes. Ha ☺

Laters potatas, L x

From Greece to Holland to Germany...*screeeeeech*.....

Today I'm sat looking at the beautiful Brighton seafront back in England. It seems like ages ago that the Vipertones and I were enjoying every minute of our residency at the Half Note Club in Athens, even though it was only last week!

When we arrived on the Friday 5th we had no idea what we would be doing with ourselves for the whole week, outside of the shows we had in the evenings...but that time soon gave way to incredible amounts of site seeing, culture, walking, vinyl shopping, ouzo, sandal bartering, rude word exchange, expensive coffee breaks, YouTube discoveries, laughing and (for me) sleeping...oh...wait...and more eating...and maybe some more sleeping somewhere in between all that. The guys and I made friends with some dogs who hated each other, and I rooted through a whole load of junk the people in the hills had brought into town to sell. I particularly liked the one man who *only* sold super glue on a very small stand, stood next to the man with no teeth and a handful of silver forks. There are amazing ancient grounds and buildings surrounding the hotel we were staying in, Athens truly is stunning!

The shows were unforgettable! Each one! Ton, Eric, Phil and Rob played brilliantly, each grabbing a shining moment every night. We really struck a connection with the audiences, and some even came back a second time to see us again. We tried out some new tunes which we are working on for the second album and gave our new Greek friends something no one else had heard before. Thanks to all those who came over at the end of the show for a chat, photo, signed vinyl/cd album. Your warmth was felt by myself and all of the band! Also thanks to the Half Note Staff for looking after us so well! We look forward to putting in some more exotic orders with Michael and George our new Sound buddies, and a return to the smoky Batman Bar some time. We took some photos of the crowd on a couple of nights, and of course a bunch of idiotic ones of ourselves being proper tourists and showing off. They will be up on our website soon! We did an interview with En lefko Radio while we were there which was fantastic, and also a television interview just before a show one night. The promotion for our shows in Athens has been very impressive, even achieving a four-page spread in a sports paper! We felt VERY welcome.

So what happens now? Well! Let me tell you!

This Friday we have a live performance on a rather important television show in the Netherlands. We will appear on 'DE WERELD DRAAIT DOOR' (Holland's equivalent to the David Letterman Show) on channel Ned3 19.30-20.30 on FRIDAY! This is a great opportunity for us and I can't wait! Somebody PLEASE tell me what I'm gonna be wearing...aarrggghhh!

The next weekend we'll be heading back to Germany for a couple of gigs in Osnabruck and Dortmund...and that is us for this month. But it's getting hotter, I can feel it!! A spring is already in my step!

Laters potatas, Laura x

Kick Starting 2010!

Hey There Campers, rise and shine! Happy New Year to you all from The Vipertones and I. We hope your 2010 has gotten off to a wicked and wonderful start, showing plenty of promise! And for those of you deciding to ditch bad habits, don't do it. Bad guys have all the fun...ha!

Our New Video!
So, on one very brisk wintery morning in Dordrecht The Vipertones and I dragged our very sleepy and cold asses into action for our first official video shoot. Now we all know how much the guys and I like to prat about in front of the camera in the studio for you, and we have had a lot of fun with Christmas decorations and rudey pens, BUT we thought we ought to give you something a bit glossier. You know, a bit more... bling. Coz we are bling...sometimes...especially very VERY early in the morning. We had a great day, with much much reward!! Thanks to the lovely make up lady who did a grand job of keeping my face in check and my arms rubbed warm again and again!

So here it is! Tell your mates that ‘Am I Dreaming?' has changed your world and provide them with the link so that they can join the journey with us! Please do leave a message on Youtube or on our myspace / twitter if ya wanna ;-)

See if you can spot my shiny nose and goose bumps... it was more than a little bit bbrrrrrrrr!!

Over the next couple of months we will be heavily promoting our first single from the album ‘Am I Dreaming?' all over the Netherlands and you can expect to catch us in interview on television and radio. You can't escape now... mwa ha haa...

AND we have a bunch of live dates in Germany and Greece on the horizon, just check our myspace. We are all mega excited about our 7 night residency in Athens' legendary Jazz Club, the Half Note starting on February 5th! Gonna get myself cultured and inspired for a week of musical performances with the boys. If you're there, come along and say hello! Check out the venue and listings here

I think that is all for now, but I'll be in touch again real soon... Don't go anywhere! Laura

We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas....

Hello once again!

In the lead up to Christmas it's been very very white over here in the UK, and I know for a fact it's been very cold over in Holland too! Still, we brought some real heat to Jazz & Beyond in Dordrecht last weekend, where we joined by a wonderful crowd for the evening! The atmosphere was warm and loving, people dancing all night and the Vipertones played an excellent set! Thanks to Mark for the flowers, Diesler for his killer Dj set and thanks to the guys from Velvet Records for making it down to the gig, after making me feel very welcome at the in-store performance earlier that day! It was great to see so many smiling and familiar faces, and to return to the mother-town of the project!

Also last week, we took time out to shoot a new video for ‘Am I Dreaming'! It was a few hours of filming and we can't wait to see what it looks like! More on that as soon as we know... hold tight for now.

So...just to remind you all, we have a special offer for you at our website. Currently you can purchase our new Christmas single - ‘Christmas Day with Me' on iTunes BUT if you come to our homepage on the website you only have to join our mailing list and you will receive this track for FREE! We are pleased to announce that we've been added to compilations over Europe (over 28.000 downloads already) and we've already had almost 2000 views of our little video we made for this (it's very cute), and Craig Charles played it on his Funk Soul Show on BBC Radio 6 last Saturday! This track is going down just as sweet as a mince pie with cream at 4 in the afternoon, so if you don't already have it, go get it before the offer ends!

To finish, I'd like to say thank you for all your support and blinding responses to our music, and to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Fantastic New Year! Get 2010 off to a brilliant start and we'll see you on the other side!!

Laters potatas, Laura x

Free Download!!!

We’d very much like to give you more for FREE! Myself and the Vipertones take the demand for new Christmas songs very seriously and dared to do our own. Yeah, you heard right! It’s here and it’s damn funky! So, if you want to replenish your seasonal compilation album then we got what you need. In order to download this exclusive new track, all you have to do is join our mailinglist here on the website! Fill in your details and you will receive a little ‘Hello!’ email from us with a link to enable you to download Laura Vane & The Vipertones ‘Christmas Day With Me’ straight away, for nothing, nada! BING!

There it is. All laid out neatly for ya! It’s a double whammy really coz then you also get to hear more about our touring stories, new gigs dates and developments on the album*2 before anyone else too! Yeah, see? I knew you’d like it. Tell your mates too! We are looking forward to our Christmas single making appearances on national television and radio in Poland and US to start… but it is infectious. I warn you. Hmm…. I have rattled on for a while now. Until the next time, Laura x

Press

Week CD - Freefm.de - August 2009

35 crisp successful minutes - sometimes less is more.."

Soullady - triggerfish.de - august 2009

"She has sex appeal and voice, something that one of Ms. Winehouse can no longer claim", "This outstanding musical group is not to be missed"

1beat.de - september 2009

"it is not only her unique voice, but her exuberant personality that their contribution to this album into something special."

Keepitrollin.de - september 2009

"Probably one of the best Soul/Funk album the past ten years." "Stylish and groovy."

The Urban Landscapes Radioshow - Album Promo

Hard-hitting funk biz; Laura Vane is firmly in control; her backing band are one tight unit. Really my kind of funk. Full support for this; more, please! 10 out of 10 - DJ Velanche