Crazy Arm - New single ‘Still To Keep' out 22nd March 2010

Jon Dailey: guitar/bass; Darren Johns: vocals/guitar; Simon Marsh: drums; Tim Rowing-Parker: bass/vocals

Crazy Arm release their third single ‘Still To Keep’ on 22nd March as a digital download and very limited 7” vinyl, to coincide with their 21-date UK and European tour with Frank Turner (and Chuck Ragan in the UK only). The 7” vinyl will be released as a split with Frank Turner’s live version of ‘Long Live The Queen’, exclusively for the tour.

Taken from the debut album ‘Born To Ruin’, the song has been a hugely popular mainstay of the band’s set throughout the past couple years, inspired at once by the crunchy pop majesty of Ted Leo and the earthy protest lore of Dick Gaughan and Phil Ochs. Despite calling out the cruel incompetence of parliament, the police and mindless patriotism, ‘Still To Keep’ proffers a world where positivity and a keen fighting spirit can prevail if we stick together and help each other out – on a personal and political level – even if the answers aren’t always forthcoming.

Crazy Arm’s debut album, 'Born To Ruin' – recorded by Pete Miles on the edge of Dartmoor – was released on Xtra Mile Recordings in June 2009 to much acclaim from fans and critics alike. The title is a celebration of history’s conscientious troublemakers as well as a respectful nod to Springsteen. The album is released on mainland Europe, through Gunner Records, on 19th March 2010.

Full CRAZY ARM tour dates:
March:
Sat 13th White Rabbit, Plymouth
Mon 15th Northumbria University, Newcastle*
Tues 16th Picture House, Edinburgh*
Weds 17th Academy, Manchester*
Thurs 18th Academy, Leeds*
Fri 19th Academy, Bristol*
Sun 21st Academy, Birmingham*
Mon 22nd UEA, Norwich*
Tues 23rd Pyramids, Portsmouth*
Weds 24th Roundhouse, London*
Sun 28th Exil, Zurich, Switzerland***
Mon 29th Universum, Stuttgart, Germany***
Tues 30th Schlachthof, Wiesbaden, Germany***
Weds 31st Uebel&Gafarhrlich, Hamburg, Germany***
April:
Thurs 1st Zakk, Dusseldorf, Germany***
Sat 3rd Lagerhaus, Bremen, Germany***
Sun 4th AB Club, Brussels, Belgium***
Mon 5th Effenaar, Eindhoven, Netherlands***
Tues 6th Tivoli, Utrecht, Netherlands***
Weds 7th Vera, Groningen, Netherlands***
Thurs 8th La Peniche Du Pianiste, Lille, France***
Fri 9th Boule Noire, Paris, France***

* w/Frank Turner & Chuck Ragan
*** w/Frank Turner only

What they said about ‘Born To Ruin’
‘Stunning’ KKKK – Kerrang!
‘Quite brilliant’ – Rock Sound
‘Best New Band’ of 2009 award – Big Cheese
‘Sure-fire contender for best debut album of 2009’ – Rock Midgets
‘An explosive blast of glorious creativity, power and honesty’ – Go2
‘They deserve to be huge’ – Mass Movement
‘Born To Ruin erupts into the room’ – The Music Fix
‘A dramatic, intelligent and impressive debut’ – Sputnik Music

www.myspace.com/crazyarm

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Crazy Arm - Debut album 'Broken By The Wheel'

Debut single ‘Broken By The Wheel’ (Xtra Mile Recordings) Released: 25th May 2009 Debut album ‘Born To Ruin’ (Xtra Mile Recordings) Released: 8th June 2009

Ask anyone and they’ll tell you that Plymouth hard-twang roots-punks, Crazy Arm’s debut album has been a long time coming. Not through want of trying, of course. In late-2006 the band headed into a local studio to bang an album into shape. A year later, and with an arsenal of new songs, they decided to scrap the recordings and start again. Another year later, and with another clutch of new songs, they reluctantly called a halt to proceedings and started afresh, for the third time, with Peter Miles (Sonic Boom Six, The King Blues, Failsafe) at the controls. The fact that his newly assembled studio was only 20 miles up the road, in the middle of a beautiful forest that backed onto Dartmoor, sweetened the deal somewhat.

The result is ‘Born To Ruin’. A debut album that sounds nothing like it would have done three years ago when the band were still in the embryonic stages, and perhaps nothing like it would have done if it hadn’t been recorded in such idyllic surroundings, where pheasants strolled around the grounds and vegan curries were mandatory. Not easy to categorise, and all the better for it, ‘Born To Ruin’ is an aural accumulation of years and years of influence and inspiration: rooted in hardcore/punk, ‘60s protest folk and timeless rock’n’roll. Of course, you may not actually hear the likes of Joni Mitchell, Led Zeppelin, Hűsker Dű, Crass or Gene Vincent but it’s all in there somewhere, adding weight and depth to songs that are as different from each other as they are from any other self-proclaimed punk band you care to mention.

But make no mistake. This is still a punk rock record. In the same way that ‘London Calling’ by The Clash, ‘The Argument’ by Fugazi and ‘Under The Fog’ by The King Blues are punk rock records. They don’t scream their ideas at you, they’re steeped in inventive melodies, and they spill over into many other styles but they are records that stand out as punk classics because of, not in spite of, their willingness to side-step punk stereotypes. For instance, ‘Blind Summit’ and ‘Broken By The Wheel’ may be dynamic country-punk anthems – all slide guitars and self-confession, but ‘Christ In Concrete’ and ‘Asphalt’ harness the dark brooding tones of 16 Horsepower. ‘Reassure Me’ may pack a melodic hardcore punch, but ‘International Front’ – a slight upon imperialist wars – and ‘Henry Fabian Flynn’ pay tribute to the protest song of Dick Gaughan, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, et al. Elsewhere, live favourites like the galloping ‘Still To Keep’ call to mind the sub-pop sensibilities of Ted Leo or The Replacements, while the title track, and album centre-piece, is an epic celebration of history’s conscientious trouble-makers that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on ‘Physical Graffiti’. All told, ‘Born To Ruin’ is an embarrassment of riches full of stories told from a grass-roots perspective. And for a debut album, it’s something of a true revelation.

The band head out on a UK tour in June (confirmed dates below) to promote the album and are planning a European tour for August. Members are all vegetarian/vegan, atheist, internationalist and support human and animal rights struggles worldwide.

CONFIRMED TOUR DATES FOR JUNE
2nd Cavern, Exeter with NEW BRUISES £3
6th Hobos, Bridgend with A NEW DAY - FREE SHOW!
7th Fawcett Inn, Portsmouth with ASTPAI FREE SHOW
8th TBC
9th Farmhouse, Canterbury with RENTOKILL £5
10th TBC
11th King Alfs, Southampton with NEW BRUISES £5
12th White Rabbit, Plymouth with FAILSAFE - FREE SHOW!
14th Prince Albert, Brighton with LEMURIA £5
15th Norwich Marquee
16th Portland Arms, Cambridge
17th Purple Turtle, London with MISCHIEF BREW £5
18th Evolution, Worcester
19th The Xoo Club, Peterborough with LAUGHING IN THE FACE OF £3
20th White Rooms w/BROKEN FEW + more Sunderland
21st Cricketers w/SOUNDS OF SWAMI Keighley
22nd TBC w/SOUNDS OF SWAMI + more Leeds (tbc)
23rd TBC w/SOUNDS OF SWAMI + more Manchester (tbc)

All doors are at 8pm

www.myspace.com/crazyarm

REVIEWS OF DEMO EP ‘CROSS COUNTRY’
"Here we have a new band that sounds like a grizzled, road-hardy bunch of musicians singing for their supper, such is the inherent power and dirty glory of their songwriting. They should be standing on some huge stages sooner rather than later." punktastic.com "Powerful, progressive, political and inspirational. An immense, energy-fuelled, life-affirming statement of intent yet fragile, honest and heartfelt at the same time." The Fly "Crazy Arm bring hooks and edgy guitars aplenty on 'Cross Country'… I dripped drool all over the keyboard just thinking about a proper full-length." absolutepunk.net "The live energy they muster is immense. Straddling the margins between a punky militancy and folk fragility, they can spit out a tight, snarling, ballsy anthem and break your heart at the same time. Indeed, out of the strong came forth sweetness." 247