Former Gin Club member Ben Salter announces UK/European dates (incl The Great Escape) + new album

Ben Salter's UK Album 'The Cat' Released June 25th on Bluebeard music UK

Features Gin Club alumni Gus Agars and Ola Karlsson

Former Gin Club member Ben Salter announces European dates and album release including UK appearances at The Great Escape and Liverpool Sound City.

Anyone with even a passing interest in the Australian music scene over the past decade should be aware of the work of Brisbane musician Ben Salter, although which of his diverse array of musical projects they will have encountered is another matter entirely.

In 2004, after five years of intensive touring with Giants, The Gin Club was born. With their unique amalgam of folk, rock, country, soul and pop, this free-wheeling collective - featuring no less than seven singer/songwriters - have released four acclaimed albums and played nearly every festival on the Australian circuit, as well as taking their music as far afield as the United States and Canada.

Never one to knowingly sit still, Salter also found time to write and record two albums with another collective of sorts, The Wilson Pickers, whose strong songwriting and captivating live shows quickly earned them a swag of fans around the country, as well as an ARIA nomination for their debut album Land Of the Powerful Owl.

Yet all the while, in parallel to all these other projects, Salter continued to write, record and perform his solo material, songs that either would not work in any other format and now, after a decade of empty threats, he is finally releasing his debut album under his own name, The Cat.

Recorded and produced with Gareth Liddiard and Robert F. Cranny at Liddiard's studio in Havilah, Victoria, The Cat is easily the most assured work of Salter's career. Whilst occasionally (and understandably) reminiscent of his other incarnations, The Cat is its own beast entirely, an intoxicating blend of avant-garde pop, rock and folk that is at once conventional and defiantly odd.

"Gareth gets bored pretty easily, as do I…", says Salter. "So we just wanted to approach these songs, some of which are over ten years old, in an unconventional manner. Thus, no hi-hats. Hurdy Gurdy, saxophone.. Swedish bagpipes!"

Salter had no shortage of friends to call on for help when it finally came time to put The Cat together. Gin Club alumni Gus Agars and Ola Karlsson played drums and bass respectively, while the quest for weirdness led to him employing legendary Melbourne jazz saxophonist Julien Wilson, multi-instrumentalist Peter Novotnik, and Australian rock'n'roll luminaries Joel Silbersher, Tom Lyncolgn and Steve Hesketh.

The Cat covers an extraordinary amount of musical terrain over the course of its ten songs, the layers of sounds and textures giving the songs a depth that far transcends the already considerable beauty of the compositions themselves. The title track is a case in point, a stunning composition with some of the most powerful lyrics Salter has ever put to paper. "The Cat features some of my own favourite lyrics. It started out as a poem that came to me very quickly after I spied one of the neighbourhood cats being tormented by a gang of crows or magpies. I could see the cat plotting dreadful revenge and it was kind of tragic. The music took ages and ages though, trying to get some chords and a melody that would suit the song. But the addition of Julien's sax solo really took the song into outer space."

With this album, Salter begins an exciting new chapter in what is already an illustrious and highly decorated career. The Cat promises to be one of the most interesting releases of 2011.

Ben Salter - The Cat video:

Ben Salter UK/European 2012 Tour Dates:

(Dates and information subject to change.)

May 2012

Thurs 10th: The Great Escape: 6pm: Festival Hub - Brighton
Sat 12th: The Great Escape: 8.30pm: Unitarian Church - Brighton
Sun 13th: The Windmill, Brixton with Mike Noga (The Drones) and Inland Sea (Aus)
Fri 18th: Liverpool Sound City
Sat 19th: Liverpool Sound City

June 2012

Thurs 14th: The Good Ship, London
Saturday June 16th Lazy Bishops Festival Farnham
Fri 22nd: Gig in Dublin (TBC)

July 2012

Fri 13th - Mon 16th: Gigs in Binic, France (TBC)
Thurs 26th - Mon 30th July: Gigs in Paris, France (TBC)

August 2012

Fri 3-Sat 4th: Art Gerecht show, Berlin (TBC)
Wed 8th: Intersoup, Berlin
Tues 21st: Freundlich und Kompetent, Berlin

September 2012

Sat 8th: Gig in Stockholm (TBC)

Video: Duet with Kimbra (of the #1 Gotye song "Somebody I Used To Know"), a cover of "Moving" by Oxford band Supergrass from national TV show, Rockwiz.

For the latest tour dates and more, go to:

Ben Salter Official Website