Xtra Mile announces North American tour with Skinny Lister, Beans On Toast, Will Varley
Music News | Dec 1st, 2015
Xtra Mile Recordings has announced 2016 North American tour that will feature Skinny Lister, Beans On Toast & Will Varley and more. Frank Turner will play one show (Gainesville, FL – High Dive). The tour will stop at Black Bear Bar in Brooklyn, NY on April 1st but only Skinny Lister, Beans On Toast, Will Varley will play. If you want to see Frank Turner play in the NYC area, he will be playing December 14th at Starland Ballroom in Sayreville NJ with Restorations & Homeless Gospel Choir.
Xtra Mile Recordings, the London-based independent label, is excited to announce its upcoming Spring North American tour featuring Skinny Lister, Beans On Toast, Will Varley and Frank Turner (on Thursday, March 17 in Gainesville, FL only). Beginning after the yearly Flogging Molly Salty Dog Cruise that will take place between March 18th and the 21st, the tour will continue on and hit additional markets such as Atlanta, GA on Thursday, March 24, Nashville, TN on Friday, March 25, Chicago, IL on Tuesday, March 29, Toronto, ON on Thursday, March 31, Brooklyn, NY on Friday, April 1 and culminate in a performance at Milkboy in Philadelphia, PA on Sunday, April 3. For more information on the tour and for additional ticket links, visit http://www.xtramilerecordings.com.
Additionally, Beans On Toast and Skinny Lister have written and recorded a festive ditty called “This Christmas,” which was released digitally on Friday, November 20 (via iTunes & the Xtra Mile Recordings digital shop). While touring the US with Frank Turner, the riotous, rum-soaked troupe and the ragged-throated troubadour bonded, leading to this inevitable collaboration. “This Christmas” is crammed full of poignant, bittersweet, funny but ultimately uplifting anecdotes of seeing family and friends during the holidays. The song boasts pounding drums, sleigh bells and decorative accordion while Jay (Beans) and Lorna from Skinny Lister duet around lines that are stuffed with turkey, presents and undeniable sentiments: “I love you, I miss you and I can’t wait to see you and forget about all that other business.”
Money raised from sales of the single will go to benefit the homeless charity Shelter and its ongoing Christmas campaign. In Britain, 100,000 children will wake up homeless this Christmas morning. You won’t see these children on the streets, rather, they’ll be hidden away in temporary accommodation – including cold, cramped B&Bs and hostels that are damaging to their health. To find out more about Shelter and to donate, please visit them online at http://www.shelter.org.uk.
UK folk-rock band Skinny Lister’s recently released sophomore album, Down On Deptford Broadway, was issued in April of this year, garnering rave reviews across the board with Q Magazine roaring “three cheers for a band who give pub rock a good name,” while the Evening Standard declared “it’s harder to imagine anything more mischievous.” Helmed by Grammy Award-winning producer Ted Hutt (Old Crow Medicine Show, The Gaslight Anthem, Lucero), Down On Deptford Broadway joins elements of English folk with the attitude of punk & rock that bursts with sing-along choruses and uptempo numbers, solidly complimenting the band’s live spirit. Skinny Lister just recently wrapped up tours in both the U.S. and Europe, both supporting labelmate Frank Turner.
Jay McAllister aka Beans On Toast met the duo Truckstop Honeymoon at Larmer Tree festival last year, and after hanging out and playing some shows with them in New Orleans, they hatched a plan to go to The Ninth Ward Picking Parlour in Lawrence, KS to make an album together. The duo brings together double bass, mandolin and finger picking sounds to Beans On Toast’s unique art of songwriting, all of which is entirely present on his seventh album, Rolling Up The Hill, an album Billboard called “nothing if not lyrical – a zany, idiosyncratic alt-folk sermon on life’s more awkward moments” and Rocksound declaring it “possibly his most accessible and immediate album to date.” Continuing with his yearly tradition of releasing an album on his birthday, Rolling Up The Hill was released today, December 1.
Produced by Tristan Ivemy and mastered at Abbey Road by Frank Arkwright (Arcade Fire, Blur) Will Varley’s debut album, Postcards From Ursa Minor, pushes the boundaries of the “one man and a guitar” format. From rowdy drinking songs with sprawling chaotic arrangements to his sparse solo performances, he covers a range of subjects with his trademark sprinkling of social commentary, politics and wry humour. Observing the world and the plight of humanity as if perched cross-legged on the edge of the moon, Varley’s existential themes cover the planet’s lonely existence within the universe as well focusing in to tackle the everyday minutia of human life. Postcards From Ursa Minor was released on Friday, October 30, 2015.
Skinny Lister, Beans On Toast and Will Varley will be making the following appearances during March and April of 2016 with Frank Turner headlining in Gainesville, FL on Thursday, March 17. Tour dates below.
March Tour Dates
17 – Gainesville, FL – High Dive (Frank Turner headlining)
18-21 – Miami, FL – Salty Dog Cruise
22 – Orlando, FL – The Social *
23 – St. Petersburg, FL – Local 662 *
24 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade (Purgatory) *
25 – Nashville, TN – The Basement *
26 – Pittsburgh, PA – Club Café Live *
28 – Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop *
29 – Chicago, IL – Schuba’s *
31 – Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern *April Tour Dates
01 – Brooklyn, NY – Black Bear Bar *
02 – Cambridge, MA – The Middle East (Upstairs) *
03 – Philadelphia, PA – Milkboy ** = Skinny Lister, Beans On Toast, Will Varley only
