News

Thursday 11th December – Leeds Carling Academy (0844 477 2000)
Friday 12 December – Glasgow SECC (0844 499 9990)
Saturday 13 December – Birmingham NIA (0870 909 4144)
Monday 15 December – Brixton Carling Academy (0844 477 2000)
Tuesday 16 December – Brixton Carling Academy (0844 477 2000)
Friday 19 December – Manchester Central (formerly G-Mex) (0871 230 2646)

Buy Hey Ma from iTunes before 20th April, and you’ll receive a unique password for a chance to purchase tickets for the December tour in the Ticketmaster pre-sale BEFORE they go on sale to the general public, giving you the best shot at securing tickets to your concert(s) of choice. The iTunes deluxe version of the album also includes a bonus song and track-by-track commentary.

Q MAGAZINE
“Manchester Veterans Make Confident Comeback”.
“Tm Booth sounds like a singer reborn”
“Oh My Heart is anthemic enough to be the new Sit Down”
May 2008

THE TIMES
“New album and sell-out tour make James the comeback kings”
“classic James with intricate instrumental work married to inventive melodies”
22/3/08

DAILY MAIL
“Hey Ma recaptures the spirit of 1993’s Laid (which broke them in the States), with talismanic frontman Tim Booth reiterating his formidable lyrical skills”.
“An outstanding comeback”
4/4/08

THE GUARDIAN
“Singer Tim Booth addresses the personal, the political and the spiritual, and he drenches every subject, from the birth of his son in the song Bubbles to the title track’s anti-war sentiment (“Hey, Ma, the boys in bodybags, coming home in pieces”) with such quivering passion that it’s hard not to be impressed.”
4/4/08

You can see the band playing new tracks on Later… With Jools Holland on BBC2 on 29th April live at 10pm and again on the Friday night show.

In the final countdown to the launch of their fine new album Hey Ma, James will be appearing on the radio for some live sessions, interviews, and chats. Here’s what’s in store:

Thursday 3rd April – Tim will be appearing on Steve Lamacq’s Roundtable on 6 Music from 6 – 7pm

Friday 4th – Tune in to old pal Marc Riley’s Brain Surgery from 7pm to hear James perform a semi-acoustic set.

Sunday 6th – Listen to Key 103 from 7pm to hear Michelle Mullaine’s exclusive interview with the band. And for the weekend night-owls catch Tim & Larry on Pete Mitchells Radio 2 show Sunday night.

Monday 7th – Breakfast with the boys on Manchester’s Xfm where they will be joining Jason Mansford; and then you’ve time to nip out and buy a copy of the album before they top it all off by treating us to three live tracks from 8.30pm on Radio 2’s Radcliffe & Maconie show.

Should be good so don’t forget to listen in!

And as a special treat to you all we have decided to give you a different track to listen to every day for 10 days leading up to the official Hey Ma release date… we hope you love them as much as we do! ps: We know there will be teething problems with the site, there always is, so please bear with us in the first few weeks. Love Larry

In the buildup to the release of James’s tenth album Hey Ma, wearejames.com will be offering visitors a sneak preview over the coming 10 days. Starting this Friday (28th March), one new track each day will be streamed on the Hey Ma page… check it out by clicking the little fella down the bottom of your screen.

To celebrate Hey Ma’s release on the 7th April, the band will be performing at Manchester’s HMV, 90 Market Street. James will play a short live set at 12:30pm, followed by a signing session where you can get your freshly minted copy of Hey Ma signed by the band. Wristbands for the event are only available on the day, from the store at 8am onwards. There are 350 available, and it is strictly one wristband per person, so be sure to get in quick!

We are pleased to announce that James will be playing at the lovely Victorian concert hall in Bradford on Tuesday 8th April as a warm up for the Spring Tour, which begins at the Derby Assembly Rooms on the 10th.

St. George’s Hall is renowned for its ornate interior and excellent acoustics, and is located directly opposite the Bradford Interchange railway & coach station, with several NCP car parks nearby, some of which are free after 6pm (apparently). So no excuses you out of towners.

Tickets go on sale Friday at 9am via gigsandtours.com , or through the venue’s box office on 01274 432 000. They may also be purchased via 24 hour credit card hotline on 0871 2200 260.

And now a word from our sponsors… Jim and Larry

‘Just to let you all know that after a fantastic tour last spring and a great summer doing all the festivals at home and abroad, the new album is coming along very nicely indeed. The studio we built with Lee in the French chateau worked a treat and the tracks are sounding great.

The album is scheduled for release on April 7th 2008 and there’s a nice little theatre tour planned where you will be able to hear all the new stuff.’

Tickets go on sale at 10am on Friday 14th December via the usual outlets including gigsandtours, Ticketmaster, and the 24 hr credit card hotline 0871 220 0260, or for the Scottish shows, 0870 169 0100. Ticketweb and ticketline only have a limited number of our shows on sale but might just have lower booking fees…

The last tour sold out by lunchtime so if you have your heart set on seeing them you’d better be on the ball come Friday morning. You snooze you lose!

Tour dates are as follows:

April 2008

Thursday 10th – Derby Assembly Rooms (01332 255 800)
Friday 11th – Lincoln Engine Shed (0871 4244 555)
Saturday 12th – Liverpool University (0151 256 5555)
Monday 14th – Newcastle Academy (0844 477 2000)
Tuesday 15th – Sheffield Academy (0844 477 2000)
Thursday 17th – London Shepherds Bush Empire (0844 477 2000)
Friday 18th – Norwich UEA (01603 508 050)
Saturday 19th – Oxford New Theatre (0871 2200 260) **JUST ADDED**
Monday 21st – Bristol Colston Hall (0117 922 3686)
Tuesday 22nd – Blackpool Empress Ballroom (0871 2200 260)
Thursday 24th – Edinburgh Corn Exchange (0870 169 0100)
Friday 25th – Aberdeen AECC Exhibition Centre (0870 169 0100)

Just back from headlining the soggy but wonderful Belladrum Tartan Heart in the Highlands of Scotland, James will be appearing on the main stage at the V Festivals in Staffordshire and Chelmsford this weekend from 6:10pm – 7:10pm, followed by Kasabian and The Killers.

The performances will be preceded by a signing session in the NME tent onsite at 3:30pm each day. As well as the opportunity to meet the band and get something signed, an NME photographer will be taking pictures of each ‘meet’ which will be posted on NME.com immediately afterwards.

This rounds off a busy summer spent travelling across Europe, headlining festivals in Istanbul, Athens, Latvia, Portugal, and Scotland, as well as performing at Summercase in Barcelona and Madrid, Ireland’s Oxegen, and T in the Park; one of the highlights being the rapturous welcome they received from 24,000 James fans upon their return to Greece.  During the gaps in between they’ve managed to squeeze in some writing sessions in Manchester and Brighton, and they’ve introduced a number of shiny new songs into the set recently too, including (provisionally titled) Not So Strong, Hey Ma, Bubbles, and Traffic, as well as continuing to refine Upside Downside which quickly became a fan-favourite on the April tour.

The V‘s are their final festival appearances for the summer and possibly your last chance to see the band and hear a work-in-progress or two before they disappear into a chateau in France to record album number eleven this autumn, so do come along if you are able.