All The New... News...

All The New... News...

How is it howling all? It's been such a long time. This blog has seemingly become neglected, dusty and so old you could bet that it was created before your grandmother was even born (smartasses please no literal retorts, this was merely an analogy).

Let's begin with the most exciting stuff: 

1. Our New EP 'One Nostalgic Afternoon With The Ghost On Trial..." has been released and can be found on iTunes, Spotify and Amazon. It's taken us a long time and sweat and blood and tears but it's got us to this point. We are expecting reviews to come in any day now.

2. Our third EP 'Animals', a self recorded, self released, self involved rocker is to be released mid-August and will contain fan favouries: Animals, Minnesota, Let Run! and My Pretty Insane Baby. 

3. The artwork for our latest EP is to be drawn by one of our fans... whoever it may be. The competition is open and the reward is £50, a free copy of our EPs and merchandise.

4. A new man on bass has arrived, Mr Ben Jones, what a sexy man he is.

More gigs are to be booked soon and revealed but we are taking a bit of time off to make sure everything is in working order, rehearsed and fresh for this new era of Ivan And The Wolves!

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWLLLL!!!

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (News) 25/Feb/'11.....

Yooooo,

It's been a damn while eh?? Well here we are back in the new year and my lord has a lot been happening. We'll keep it brief. Unfortunately Ivan has decided to part way with Anders due to mutual consent, we still all love each other and will miss each other but we will always think about him naked... Always. In the mean time Lloyd Musto has been lined up to replace for up and coming gigs, DO NOT MISS THIS GUY PLAY. SERIOUSLY.

On a great side note, Ivan have just been voted to play at Snowbombing this year. It's an amazing festival in Austria and we made the final 4 out of 500 or so other bands. There were 15,000+ votes to get us there and if we win the final we will be on the main stage alongside Prodigy, LCD Soundsystem, Fat Boy Slim and Chase and Status. Very cool. And a MASSIVE thankyou to everyone who voted.

We're recording more and more songs and videos. Our new video "Leeches" is an acoustic version of our wrist slashing atmospheric songs which is up on YouTube and you can see Jack and Nick exposed in all their hairy, dirty glory. We have two new songs 'Subdivisions' and 'The Get Out Clause' days away from being ready for release. Those on the mailing list will get first listen to them.

Next gigs are some great gigs with rumours of A&R in the air.

Come grab a pint with us and let loose all of our tales

Much love,
Ivan

Homelessness Without a Home 2/Sep/'10...

New day turns new month turns the first day of your life.. everyday, amiright? Well, thankfully it's not like that in Ivan And The Wolves. Since we've been back we've been damn busy. Our first gigs back in England were sweet and The Monarch and The Good Ship witnessed some experimentation with our set. We're switching it all around and making every gig different and every song, be sure to pay attention to lyrics ;-)

So this blog is dedicated to all those without a home because.. well, we're without a house. Luckily we have good friends and family but in the words of a little band this city really is a vampire. Meanwhile, we're using our time to book more gigs and get all the information out to you through our mailing list that we've set up.

As for the absolutely fabulous Ivan And The Wolves mailing list, we want to thank those who are signing up! It's been great meeting all you guys after gigs and we're hoping to see you all soon at up and coming gigs! Including those 3 girls in pink and the dancing king. Love it!

There's been a delay in the recordings. Standard eh? Our schedule is to hit the studio to record The Get Out Clause and Subdivisions on the 17th September (that night we're playing down in London Bridge)! Busy times and we're looking to getting new stuff out there for all to grace their ear holes.

As for now, don't be strangers.

Much love,
The lads;
Ivan And The Wolves

Great Gig In The Norwegian Sunset 2nd/Aug/'10....

Ivan And The Wolves are back in England (well, 2 of us) and are in the process of booking gigs. Don't be afraid of contacting us at any time of band@ivanandthewolves.com to ask for gigs in your local areas!

So! Norway. What an amazing place (and I'm sure Anders would agree). The first thing that really struck me when I first got there was the fact that it's so.. hot. I was expecting to be greeted by a tribe of Native men wrapped in seal fur riding a herd of polar bears. Alas, my fantasies did not come true, we were greeted by Anders.

Thus ensued an extended weekend of drinks, a festival, drinks, Sandefjord, Larvik, family reunions and the like. Stappen Festival was amazing. A tucked away stage in a quiet cul-de-sac in Sandefjord was filled up with 350 people and we played away to a sunset. Great gig but I can't help but feel we disturbed the noise pollution policies ha!



So many thanks to Stappen and Norway for our brief visit! We've been invited back next year so we'll be sure to be booking more and more gigs now, we might even by heading back there before Christmas. As for now, our focus is England. Note, the broadness of England.. we're looking to push our gigs outside of London and come to other areas. Let us know where you want us! Demand it, damn it.

New songs Spin, Someone Let In The Sun, Power Over Me and The Crush are nearing finished (in my mind anyway so expect them to be played in near gigs).

On August 13th and 14th us lads are recording two songs Subdivisions and The Get Out Clause, we'll be sending out the tunes through our mailing lists so be sure to sign up, get people signed up and then vote for your favourite! We're going to be launching a single campaign with the song you vote to be the best.

We'll see you up on the stage and then at the bar!

Nicko
Ivan And The Wolves

Norway, Surface Unsigned, Promises 12/Jul/'10...

It's been a long time since I wrote a blog. Almost two months and that is nay good for a band who want to update their swarming mobs. It's also not good that we haven't been doing any gigs in July.. the sunniest and happiest July in the country for a long, long time. Guess we missed the wave.

So, promise 1) More blogs. We are going to keep you informed on every little thing we do. It's what you deserve for being our fans. Even if it's Jack buying Hobnobs from the shop because I know all of you have been dying to know what his favourite ice cream is.

Promise 2) After we've played in Sandefjord, Norway we will be refreshed like Esklar spring water. Ivan And The Wolves are going to gigging more, for longer and delivering new songs on a regular basis (of course, we won't drop Wednesday Morning Rain, all girls favourites - no offence guys).

Promise 3) More pictures and more demo songs. Anders' mangina? Or me dressed as a woman? Either way, watch our life in pictures. Ivan style.

Recently, we just dropped out of Surface Unsigned. This is a show that allows you to go through a number of rounds in order to reach the holy grail, the Shangri La, Nirvana, of the final prize. A reported £10,000, equipment and a single record deal. Well, we took a trip of the bus to Valhalla when we released the crookedness of it. If there are any bands out there trying to go far in these competitions. Don't. Do. It.

A quick rant on this, if I may. Not only do they take money of you to play. They place you in the worst venues with little to no publicity plugged into it. Of course, like promoters these days (are they promoters? Or just.... organisers? If that), they rely on you to run a PR campaign in order to gather the (amazing and loyal) fan base. When this is all done the fat cats roll in their dirty money and we are left to hear from a vote of hands on the bands that go through.

Wait? I vote of hands? You cry. Yes, they ask the audience to raise their hands for who they want to go through. Not only is this the worst voting system ever it's just,well, really, quite hilarious.

So promise 4) we will deliver to you and ourselves the best music possible in the best way.

Right now, I've been writing heaps of new songs, we've got some slower ones (Someone Let In The Sun) and upbeat ones (Power of Me) that will be given life when we're back and reunited in the Isles.

Until then, help us spread the word. We love you.

Nicko
Ivan And The Wolves

24/May/'10

So it's that time again and Ivan has been on a Germanic adventured, played gigs, written an receieved reviews and are now live on the internet.

Let start from the beginning. We originally planned to write a blog a week, this clearly did not happen. We're musicians, drunk and didn't want to saturate ours (and yours of course) blogspots with random drivel so we'll keep you all up to date with the important stuff.

First things first after 2/3 of Ivan And The Wolves headed over to Germany for a friends mothers wedding it was decided that we should not only start planning a tour around the UK but definately head into our European friends native lands too (and we're looking to you Germany). We'd love to hear from any of you guys out there if you want us to come for a quick visit, drink and a gig all over the Isles so drop us a line at band@ivanandthewolves.com

Secondly, we are finally up on Spotify and iTunes. Urban Bonfires is picking up sales which is a great initial response so keep doing what you're doing out there, spreading the word and helping us help you! (Jerry Maguire anyone?) There'll be a link up on our Myspace and website soon for any merchindise so keep your sweaty eye balls peeled.

Thirdly, and finally, there are reviews cropping up all over the internet of Urban Bonfires and we're particularly fond of Rock and Rolly's who describes us pretty much to a T, Bluesbunny and AMPjam.net have also taken their precious time to drop a couple lines down about our music.

Well, that's all for now folks. Thanks for the support! We don't forget.

And remember if it isn't loud, turn it up or turn it off.

The Dublin Castle 30/Apr/'10.....

So, a successful night I'd say. The secret of who Ivan really is what revealed just a little but more, two new songs played and performed and plenty of pretty new faces in the crowd. Who knows if we'll see them again but we love the dancers who, well.. danced. So cheers for making the gig entertaining and bringing some light into our concrete hell of lives.. but you helped Ivan and the Wolves shatter that concrete and I salute you right

Here's the new songs then:

Subdivisions - Being honest, it's our U2 song. Every band has one, and I stand firm that if a band doesn't have a U2 song, at least one, then they're not a band. That being said it isn't filled with delay effects and reverb effects on the guitar that lasts for about a year if you play one note and doesn't have some annoying, sun glasses ridden guy singing.. o wait, yes, yes it does. A new opener.

A Breathrough - So this is our lighter rock song. At first I, being an aged metal head, cringed at the idea of having a lighter rock song in our set but works out pretty well. Good groove and a dark meaning. Be ure to see this sly one creeping into some set lists.

And then the drinks flowed... and yes, they did. We met someone with an Ancient Greek name, a real life Kim Jung Il (that's right, we all know he isn't real) and from Czech Republic, and then the night ended up with Anders drunk and having cake high up his anus crack.

Next gig. 21st May, headlining at the 333 Mother Bar, Shoreditch. Come down for 10 and have some drinks. We're starting up our "Class of [insert gig]" there so be sure to attend.