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THE BLACK HOUSE presents -
Postcard From An Abandoned Hotel

The debut long player from The Black House is a beautifully realised suite of songs, a journey through the thoughts and memories of the unknown writer of the titular postcard. These are stories of love, loss, regret and redemption, atmosphere and setting. Anyone who has ever sat alone in the wee small hours and listened to the melodic, melancholic beauty of Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Lambchop or Tindersticks will feel right at home with ‘Postcard From An Abandoned Hotel’.

Postcard From An Abandoned Hotel is available from Amazon and all leading download services including iTunes and select retailers.

THE BLACK HOUSE presents -
The Wasting Time ep

The second release from The Black House - The Wasting Time ep – marks a significant development in the band’s sound. The song writing is still dark and delves into emotional and psychological aspects of life that most bands would shy away from, but the sound now is painted on a much broader canvas with violins, cello and full orchestration. The Wasting Time ep will appeal to fans of Nick Cave, Lou reed, Lee Hazlewood, David Ackles, Tim Hardin and Jimmy Webb.

The Wasting Time ep is available from Amazon and all leading download services including iTunes and select retailers.

Jonathan Electric piano/electric organ

Jon started playing drums at school and after literally “a few hours” of exhaustive training gave up. Many years later in the mid nineties he hooked up with Ian in a now long forgotten Plymouth punk rock band that some have called “the band the Foo Fighters wish they had been”. People still talk of Jon’s legendary drumming in that band, but not very often.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago and Jon hooked up with Ian again who was putting a band together, after a brief stint on drums Jon moved to the fender Rhodes electric piano.

“Early on I was playing drums in the band and we had a simple guitar, bass and drums set up but to be honest the sound was pretty run of the mill, I think Ian got frustrated with our then bass player who soon left. If I recall Ian had an old Fender Rhodes so I borrowed that, learned a few chords and we built the band and the whole sound of the band from there. That was a couple of years ago and I’ve been on keyboards ever since.”

In the studio Jon takes on the mantle of producer, capturing a ‘raw’ autumnal vibe that suits the songs perfectly.

Influences - Cowboy Junkies, Big Star, P J Harvey, Billy Joel, Kraftwerk, Human League, Air, Dean freedman.

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Lee Drums/percussion

Lee started playing drums in his teens and is passionate about percussion. He has an unhealthy obsession with things he can hit or slap and now owns a large collection of percussive instruments.

He has experienced many different styles of music with artists such as Mad Dog Mcrea, Monotwin (feat World Slam Poet Champion Mike McGee), Damo Suzuki from Can, Ella Edmondson, Memo & Bex Marshall. Lee has performed around the country at numerous festivals and music venues.

He recently joined The Black House and says he has "finally found a band that suits me down to the ground, the music is as tight as the camaraderie!" As well as working with the band, Lee is studying an FdA in Music Performance and teaches Drums part-time.

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Ian Guitar/vocals

Ian started playing the guitar relatively late in life at the age of 20, initially acoustic guitar and then after learning a few chords moved to electric guitar and formed a punk rock band in the mid nineties. When that band collapsed Ian moved back to the acoustic guitar. Ian set about writing new songs and eventually decided to play live as a solo ‘singer/songwriter’ with questionable results.

“I found playing on my own utterly terrifying and no fun at all. I also missed the camaraderie of playing live with a band and was under no illusion about my own inadequacies as a musician. I did have faith in the songs though.”

Eventually Ian started to try and recruit musicians to flesh out the songs, a process that took quite a long time.

“I almost wanted anti-musicians, no egos, no showing off musically, I needed creative people who understood that the space in the songs is as important as the music. It took a while, but I persevered and it paid off, I think we have something very special with this band now.”

Ian is philosophical about The Black House and the music they play.

“We don’t need people to love us and we will never compromise what we do. We know that some people will be turned off by our brand of melancholic acoustic music but we also know that a lot of people get what we do and every time we play live a few more people come up to us after the show and say they thought we were the best band they’ve seen in a long time.”

Influences - Tim Hardin, Lou Reed, Kris Kristofferson, Jacques Brel, Townes Van Zandt, Jimmy Webb, Richard Harris, Suicide, Johnny Thunders, Gordon Lightfoot, Lee Hazlewood, Glen Campbell, Clifford T Ward.

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