Today XS Noize are pleased to premiere The video for ‘Way To Mars’ by Curse of Lono from their second album ‘As I Fell’. ‘Way To Mars’ was shot by Gregg Houston (Van Morrison, Noel Gallagher, Two Door Cinema Club, Michael Kiwanuka, Foy Vance) during Curse Of Lono’s recent European tour, including footage from gigs opening for Steve Earle and for Southside Johnny.
‘Way To Mars’, is a deceptively upbeat, satirical ode to touring life and the way we chase the elusive dream of finally getting where we want to be.
“We spent a large chunk of last year on the road, including a twenty-five-day European tour with no days off and an average of eight hours driving a day,” says Felix.“You collect a lot of stories when you work at that pace but it also makes you re-evaluate why you do what you do. It’s something that a lot of my friends who don’t work in music are going through as well. How do our dreams change as we get older and is there a way of chucking it all in and starting over? It’s one of the main themes of the album and I think that life on the road was the perfect metaphor to get it into a song.”
Check out the exclusive XS Noize video premiere of ‘Way To Mars’ – BELOW:
Acclaimed London five-piece Curse Of Lono released their second album ‘As I Fell’ on August 17th. The album entered the Official Americana Album Charts at No. 10 and the Official Independent Albums Breakers Chart at No. 15. Produced by Oli Bayston (Boxed In) at Rancho V, a remote desert studio in Joshua Tree, and Flesh & Bone Studios in Hackney, the album is accompanied by a mini-documentary ‘Somewhere In Their Heads’ by Gregg Houston (Noel Gallagher, Two Door Cinema Club, Michael Kiwanuka, Foy Vance), which recently won Best Short Documentary at the LA Edge Film Festival, the Jukebox Film Festival in Nevada, Feel The Reel International Film Festival in Glasgow, Changing Face International Film Festival in Sydney, The Hollywood Sun Awards in California and the Cult Critic Film Festival in India.
‘As I Fell’ is the follow-up to ‘Severed’, one of the most critically acclaimed debuts of 2017, and builds on Curse Of Lono’s deeply cinematic blend of harmony-laden Americana and driving, gothic alt-rock. It’s a sound that owes as much to old faithfuls like The Doors and The Velvet Underground as it does to more modern practitioners of the form such as The War On Drugs and Wilco.
Although some of the songs on ‘As I Fell’ revisit familiar themes like murderous jealousy and the death of loved ones, much of the album covers new ground. “Leuven”, with its sumptuous string arrangement, recalls the stories Felix’s grandfather told him about growing up as a half-Jew in Nazi Germany and a devastating train crash he survived in 1954 after the first football international between England and West Germany after World War 2.
“It was one of the worst train crashes in Belgian history,” says frontman Felix Bechtolsheimer. “My grandfather and his brother were on their way home from Wembley when their train derailed outside Leuven in Belgium. He told me that he was never able to shake the image of their coats soaked in blood as he and his brother dragged the bodies from the wreck.”
Joining Felix in Curse Of Lono, who formed in London in 2015, are Joe Hazell (lead guitar and vocals), Dani Ruiz Hernandez (keys and vocals), Charis Anderson (bass and vocals) and Neil Findlay (drums).
Curse Of Lono completed their first UK headline tour in May, including a sold-out show at London’s Lexington, and appeared at several UK Festivals this summer as well as supporting Steve Earle, Southside Johnny, Cordovas and David Ramirez on separate European tours. They will be embarking on a second UK headline tour in November/December.
CURSE OF LONO – LIVE
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