On Monday, 10th November 2014 Magic Cat Records released the new Magic Eight Ball album, ‘Last Of The Old Romantics’, with very special guest Rik Mayall!
* You can order your CD through this link now: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=9PWG9ZA85AJ34
* Or download the Expanded Edition of the album here on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/last-old-romantics-expanded/id931217981
TRACKLISTING:
1. See You Next Tuesday (featuring Rik Mayall)
2. What Happened In ’92
3. Come Get Your Kicks
4. Yeah, I’m Serious
5. California In The Fall
6. Wait Here A Second (featuring Rik Mayall)
7. Losing My Faith In Human Nature
8. Red Hair Wrapped Around Her Neck
9. Good For Nothing Good
10. On The Days That You Wish You Could End It All… (featuring Rik Mayall)
—-DOWNLOAD ONLY BONUS TRACKS—-
11. Red Hair Wrapped Around Her Neck (Demo)
12. Good For Nothing Good (Demo)
Baz Francis on the new album:
Making a record is always a unique experience unto itself, and also subject to external events overlapping and often interrupting the process. It is a well-established truth that nearly 4 years ago I met someone with whom I feel like I have flourished within my recorded work alongside, that man being Dave Draper. Once Magic Eight Ball finished making the ‘Sorry We’re Late But We’re Worth The Wait’ album I felt a variety of things, but most strongly that I could happily make another album with Dave straight after the first, and secondly, having got Donnie (Vie) to perform on our first album, there was no harm in asking other people whose work I cherish to feature on Album #2.
So, back in January 2014 I began work on our sophomore album with Dave back at Tower Studios with the songs I already had in mind for it and with a bunch still to be written. Unlike ‘Sorry We’re Late…’, I wrote a fair chunk of this collection once the sessions had already begun, and that is why it’s actually quite poignant for me to listen to it at the moment, because it literally documents the last 2 years of my life from within that period that has just ended.
Dave confirmed my judgement of him to be spot-on once again, and it is so terribly deserved that he should be fulfilling musical dreams elsewhere in his life right now with his beloved Hey You Guys and Kerbdog, amongst others.
Then there’s the part which most people will be interested in hearing: Rik. As I started this process at the beginning of the year, I sought after my huge comedic love to read my poetry on the album. Imagine my joy and surprise then when Rik Mayall‘s agent agreed to this on his behalf. It turns out that our first album had made an impact with someone for whom I am so proud to have worked with, and now is finally the right time I feel to celebrate and share the wonderful gift of laughter he provided us with. Rik’s role here and the timing of him leaving us will no doubt make this album a curiosity for a lot of people, but this is no sombre affair, and any newcomer to us on this record will be introduced to 10 songs that I adore with all my being, three of which happen to feature the funniest human ever to have walked the Earth.
When it came to filming a first video for the album then, I wanted something that tied in with both the theme of the song in question plus also the overall area of inspiration for a great many of the songs here as well. For ‘Come Get Your Kicks’ then we addressed the subject of love from the angle of the punishment that often goes with the pursuit of the former, and with the song and S&M-tinged video for it we discussed how fake bravado and real pain both stem from something far more common than bondage: boredom. In order to emphasise this I wanted to put myself in a position of genuine discomfort, and we were blessed on the video shoot by the presence of fetish model and adult actress extraordinaire Miss Zara DuRose (http://www.zaradurose.com) delivering the very real blows whilst Oly Edkins at Bravo Oscar Productions committed us to film once more. The video is a must-see for anyone who enjoys listening to our music or just seeing me getting hit around the face repeatedly: http://youtu.be/a-L9utsLGKM
If it wasn’t for the music underneath it all though our videos and outfits wouldn’t serve any real purpose to Magic Eight Ball, and so to Dave, Rik, and the music itself; I love all three of you and send my eternal thanks once more. Now it’s over to you all to enjoy and judge our work for yourselves.
Magic 8 Ball were Keith Woodhouse’s guests on 11.12.14