November 2004
The Pop Factory Awards - Halflight nominated for Best New Act.
Vote Now!
Halflight have been nominated for Best New Band in the
Coca Cola/ Pop Factory Music awards.
The Awards are decided by public vote.
To vote Halflight (you know it makes sense) go to http://www.thepopfactorymusicawards.com/voting.html
To launch the event, TPF are holding a gig on December 3
featuring Halflight, Ellin Fflur and Christopher Rees.
We have 10 free tickets for the launch gig to give away
to the first ten people to email
us (halflightmusic@hotmail.com)
with the answer to this question:
The Crimea's drummer, Owen Hopkin features
on Halflight's 'Subside' EP but what were the Crimea formally known as?
The actual award ceremony will be held on December 11th at TPF and will
feature performances from Top 40 stars such as Embrace and Estelle.
Halflight Photographs
Check out Photographs from the Aberystwyth gig here www.inaudible.co.uk/crocketts/
Halflight with Drums??
Halflight have been trying out some new songs with drummer Avvon Chambers,
and are planning to play their first gig as a four-piece sometime in December.
Determined not to lose their distinctive sound or subtlety, Avvon will
only feature on some songs.
October 2004
FREE DOWNLOAD!!
Check out the sounds page to download an early
recording of the song Linen.
NEW YORK!!
So the Launch of the U.S. ‘Brit Bus tour’ got off to a great start. Sarah
played a solo show at Virgin Megastore in Union Square, NYC, alongside singer
songwriters Sylvie Lewis and Julia Jones, to a packed crowd.
EP’S were sold and new friends were made. Many large sponsors are now getting
on board to support the U.S. tour which takes place next year covering 8,000
miles and stops at many of the main U.S. cities.
Check out the newly launched Brit Bus Tour website for more details.
NY photo: Copyright © Katy Winn / Corbis 2004
THE GUEST LIST - ITV Wales, 11.30PM THURSDAY (Oct 21st)
Footage from the Virgin Megastore gig and of Sarah hanging out in New York
can be seen on the T.V. show The Guest List on Thursday. DON’T MISS IT!!
Also keep a look out for Halflight’s unplugged performance on The Guest
List- Unplugged Special, in December.
If you’re not in Wales and can’t get ITV Wales we will be uploading some
footage of our performance onto the site in the near future.
RECORDING IN THE STATES
While in the U.S., Sarah has been recording with extremely talented Mix
Engineer/Producer/Musician/All round nice guy - Ken Lewis.
Ken has worked with the likes of The Beastie Boys, Lenny Kravitz, Mary
J Blige and Soul Asylum to name but a few. So she spent a few days in
New Jersey working on three tracks, ‘Wake Up’, ‘Purify’ and ‘Smile and
Air’ all of which I’m sure you’ll hear eventually.
Big thanks to Ken. Check out www.indiemixing.com
or www.protoolsmixing.com
for more info.
THE 50 SEXIEST WOMEN IN WALES
Sarah has been placed at No. 42 in the Western Mail’s top 50 Sexiest Women
in Wales!
Other names in the top 50 were Charlotte Church, Cerys Matthews, Opera
star Kathryn Jenkins and Sian Evans of Kosheen.
Halflight in New York
Exciting times are ahead as Sarah introduces Halflight to The U.S. in
a one-off solo gig at Virgin Megastore on Union Square, New York.
The gig which will take place on Wed 13th October, will be held during
the annual CMJ Music Marathon, and marks the launch of a forthcoming US
tour, scheduled to take place in Spring 2005.
Developed by British singer-songwriter and entrepreneur Julia Jones, former
City banker and University lecturer, The BritBus Tour initiative aims
to help reverse the decline in British music sales in the US.
With support from the UK Government Music Exports Committee and the main
industry organizations, The BritBus Tour aims to re-ignite the excitement
over British Music talent that was originally sparked by the Beatles in
1964.
www.thebritbustour.com
The Crimea (with drummer Owen Hopkin, who features on 'Subside' E.P.) will be continuing their U.S. success that same week, with a gig @ Plaid, New York City on Friday 15th Oct.
Keeping with the American flavour, Sarah will return from the US on the 18th October, to play at the International Pop Overthrow at The Cavern Club, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow (or IPO, as it has become known) is a pop music festival, which has been held for the past seven years in Los Angeles, and more recently in Chicago, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Nashville and San Francisco and now Liverpool. Each International Pop Overthrow features between 100-180 of the best pop bands from around the world with many coming over from the US to mingle and play alongside UK bands.
www.internationalpopoverthrow.com/about.htm
September 2004
Sarah and Emma will play an acoustic set in the Selfridges Store in Central Manchester on Sunday as part of the 'In The City' Music Industry conference that is held there every year. If you're near Manchester and fancy mixing a shopping trip with a bit of live music, come along. Halflight take the stage/shop floor at 1.30pm.
This month we're filming an unplugged slot for The Pop Factory's 'The Guest List' show - to be aired on ITV Wales later in the year. The Pop Factory are also kindly making us a music video for 'Treading Water' (track 2 on the EP) which we'll try to get put on the website for you all to see.
Check out the latest reviews of 'Subside'...
August 2004
with The Fever and Neon Lips.
Admission £2.50. Doors 7.30pm. Come down early to catch us.
“…written with insight and performed with a gentle passion…Halflight prove to be a new jewel in the crown of Welsh music”
Check out the full review here
Sarah will be live on Valley's Radio every night this week between 6 & 9pm. If you're in the area, listen in to hear tracks from the E.P. and a chance to win yourself a copy! (23rd August)
BBC Radio Wales - Adam Walton and Frank Hennessy play tracks from 'Subside' .
Halflight Subside e.p.Out Now !!
Four haunting tracks.
Click here for reviews.
Available today from:
- Spillers Records, Cardiff
- Terminal Records, Haverfordwest.
"....... it seems there is a resurgent interest in taking heartfelt words and encapsulating them in beautiful, haunting music without verbosity or pretension. With fine exponents like Halflight around, let’s hope that’s not just a trend, as this is certainly nothing like ephemera."
Skif www.vanityproject.co.uk
Subside EP will also be reviewed in The Big Issue Wales on the week of 16th August.
July 2004
Subside E.P. - Release 16th August on My First Records
Available from the halflight website and good records shops in Limited Edition Wallet Packaging. Keep checking back for more details.E.P. Launch Party @ Clwb Ifor Bach
17th August with support from Sweet Baboo and Cerrig Melys. Should be a great night of new acoustic music.June 2004
More artwork by the late Nia George has been added to her website. Check it out here www.niageorge.com and go to digital images.
Pics from the Narbeth gig here! Were you there? Spot yourself in the photo of the audience.
During March we played a few songs and chatted some on Cardiff Uni Radio and
GTFM Radio (Uni of Glamorgan). We also did a few gigs without Emma, who
took her cello to Texas for a working holiday.
This month we will finish off the recordings featuring Owen Hopkin (Crimea/
Crocketts) on drums.
Three songs have been tackled (Linen, The Ending and Pins Drop) and they
sound pretty damn good. Watch this space....
February 2004
Nia George, my best friend and co-founder of rock band Jylt, passed away in her sleep on 21st February. She was just 21 years old. She had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia and had battled with the disease since August 2002. I grew up with Nia from about the age of 7. She was such a gorgeous, talented and colourful person. Nia's songwriting always inspired and touched me and her memory will be honoured in every note of halflight's music. She was great singer/songwriter but also a gifted artist. If you have the time, take a look at her some of her art which was put on-line at www.niageorge.com just a few weeks before she left us.- Sarah
28/02/2004
January 2004
coming to venue near you...
Our New Years Resolution was to rehearse in as many interesting places as possible. So far we've clocked up:a barn in Pembrokeshire,
various front rooms in Cardiff,
Transpose Studios in Newport,
..and a basement in Hackney, east London.
The gigs are coming in thick and fast. Check out the gigs page.
December 2003...
showcase - Waterford, Ireland 24/10/2003
Sarah was chosen to represent Wales in a new singer/ songwriter event in Waterford, Ireland. She was joined by fellow Welshmen Mattoidz and a number of Irish artists, including Brendan Martin and Chris Dunne.November 2003...
coming to venue near you...
Sarah is showcasing the new halflight material in carefully selected acoustic settings at a venue near you. A totally new set of songs in a pared down form, reflecting a new maturity of songwriting and sound. The full band line up is busy rehearsing and adding different musical and songwriting elements to the melting pot. Watch this space for imminent gig and release information.