The new era of Crowded House is officially up and running - here's the first interview to surface from Double J in Australia which among other things confirms an early 2021 album release for "Dreamers Are Waiting":
https://www.abc.net.au/doublej...reamers-are/12823524
An audio interview with Neil is embedded into the article.
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Neil, Liam and Elroy are interviewed on "The Project" on TV in Auckland:
Neil is interviewed on TVNZ today:
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/b...album-under-lockdown
Video appears to be geo-blocked outside New Zealand, but can be accessed via Facebook.
One thing about these links: their fantastic to see, just too bad they will delete after a few years. Anyone keeping any of the entire press things instead of just the link? I’m sure the links to articles from when they started up again in 2006 or so are gone...probably great interviews that were there.
An updated link to "Breakfast' interview with unblocked video and text content reproduced below:
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-new...er-covid-19-lockdown
Crowded House frontman Neil Finn said the band were "having a ball" while recording a new album while under Covid-19 lockdown in the US.
The iconic rock band behind classic hits Don't Dream It's Over and Better Be Home Soon returned to New Zealand one month ago, after recording a new album - which began before the Covid-19 lockdown - in Los Feliz, Los Angeles.
Crowded House will be performing shows at 10 different cities across the country next March.
It follows the release of the band's first new single in more than a decade with the debut of Whatever You Want.
“We were making an album, we were remote, Pro Tools studios in everybody’s house and sending files to each other on Zoom,” Finn explained on TVNZ's Breakfast this morning.
“We mix by Zoom - our mixer was giving us the music in real time - and we were all there, sort of chatting away, daily two-hour session in the morning and having a ball, actually,” Finn said. “It worked well.”
He said honouring the band’s legacy has meant he has not been in the band in recent years, choosing instead to tour with American classic rock giants Fleetwood Mac as the replacement for vocalist Lindsey Buckingham.
“I take it very seriously and it’s why I haven’t been in Crowded House all these years, ‘cause there were times I didn’t feel it in my heart, basically.”
Finn said coming off the back of a Fleetwood Mac tour where he “really connected with that feeling of a classic band and how real it was onstage” made him realise he had his own “experience of that classic band with a long history and songs that young people are connecting with”.
“I had a real sense of occasion about getting it back in a new form that felt like it had a chance to move forward,” he said.
He said that was what led to changes in the lineup, with his sons Liam and Elroy joining longtime friend and collaborator Nick Seymour, and original producer Mitchell Froom.
"We play together like family and there’s no replacing them."
Finn said there is still a sense of joy wonder in stepping out on stage.
"The sense of joy of an audience singing your music back to you in a live setting is unparalleled and I'm still fascinated by it,” he said.
“It compels me to try and write better songs every time."
He added that New Zealand has a "buoyant spirit" and "deserves to enjoy a really golden summer".
Crowded House album Dreamers Are Waiting is expected to be released next year.
Newstalk ZB phone interview with Neil:
Neil interviewed on the Kennedy Molloy show on Triple M in Australia:
A brief Neil interview with Nik Brown of The Sound:
Great job on listing these media appearances. I'm also adding to neilfinn.com/news as they come.
Neil will be talking to RNZ’s Kim Hill, Saturday Morning at 10.30 am NZ time. Tune in live for this half hour talk. This will mean Fangradio will either be pre-recorded or won't air at the usual time.
Neil's chat on Kennedy Molloy on Triple M is now available as a download:
So I noticed there were a couple of sites with pre-order options on the new release that have now been removed (HMV CD and Target Vinyl) - given we are now in the first week of Feb is it safe to assume the release will be pushed back from end of Feb?
Do we also have any insight into the UK tour actually happening in June / quite a few other shows I was looking at have been cancelled or pushed out again ?
I don’t think there really is any information.The situation is fluid of course, but I would be very very surprised if the UK and European tour happen. I just hope I can get my money back.
The silence this close to a planned album release is stunning. Seems strange to go from promoting a single and teasing a release date back in October to nothing at this point in time.
Either a big promotional push is right around the corner or plans have been changed significantly. What about Neil’s plans to broadcast an acoustic version of each album, one a week, leading up to the release of Dreamers Are Waiting? Seems like that plan would require at least six weeks, so a February release is unlikely at this point.
I wonder how concert tickets are selling in New Zealand. I know there’s no COVID-19, but a pandemic could still impact the public’s desire to participate in mass gatherings.
I am super excited for the new album! Hoping we hear more details soon!
Paul Myers is Mike Myers brother, of whom the Finns are very good friends with
I'd read somewhere that it was meant to be released in the UK on 26th February - that's 20 days away so I suspect that date is unlikely now.
All I know IS... it will be worth the wait whenever it is. I'd looked forward to a second new song - maybe that'll be soon. I liked the acoustic versions that were played on Fang before Christmas. I hope we get to hear some more. Perhaps, there might be a formal release of some of these, there is a little trend for bands and artists releasing acoustic versions / best of CDs.
You can't say we weren't spoiled last year, there was all the music played on Fang, a new Neil song was released, there was the wonderful solo CD of Neil in Sydney and 2 live Crowded House albums. There was also the YouTube Last Day of June re working too.
2021 promises to be great, a new Crowded House record... maybe soon, a re-issue of Finn of vinyl abit later and hopefully we will get the chance to hear these acoustic reworkings of Crowded House songs.
I don't know what will happen with the tour, if borders are closed and the world is in the midst of a vaccination programme for COVID, I'm sure it must be a massive headache trying to sort a tour. I can't see a UK tour in June right now.
I guess we should all be cool and bear with it... it's sure to be worth the wait.
I’ve no idea if this is likely or not but it would be really nice if we got some recordings of the NZ shows. For those of us far away where live music isn’t a thing here yet, it would be wonderful to be able to live that along with you all.
Yeah... it’s less than a month now until the NZ tour and everything has gone very quiet. The tour sold pretty well, with additional concerts added for Auckland and Napier. Also you couldn’t walk anywhere without seeing a poster plastered somewhere and there was a bit of TV advertising as well.
I was hoping for an album release prior to the tour but that is looking pretty doubtful given I would have expected to see pre-orders by now.
I wonder if Nick and Mitchell have landed yet? They have a mandatory 2 weeks in quarantine upon arrival and I would imagine they would want a bit of time for rehearsal etc... prior to hitting the road.
I would hope to see some activity soon, even if it was just to promote the tour for that final ticket sale push given it’s only a few weeks away.
If Dreamers Are Waiting isn’t released in time for the tour, it would be nice to have something like the Where’s My Room vinyl single that was availability for the NZ Where’s My Room tour prior to the LightSleeper release. I also agree with Thom - it would be nice to share a recording from the NZ tour with fans in other parts of the world. I was really grateful when they did that for the Neil and Paul Kelly Aussie tour. I watched the Sydney concert streamed live then loved the CD/DVD release of it.
If they did professionally record a show, it could enable them to release a Dreamers Are Waiting deluxe set with a live CD/DVD from the NZ tour. That might justify a delay in releasing it and be a small sweetener if the overseas gigs are cancelled.
For the ‘07 and ‘10 shows, they released every show from the US and UK tours. Would love to see them take that approach with this NZ tour. But if not, just one would be most welcome.
Paul Myers, the guy who got a sneak preview of the album, believes it's not going to be released until June. He said so on Twitter the other day. He mentioned he's lining up a podcast with Neil - so assume he has some inside knowledge.
My guess is the ongoing Covid pandemic has impacted on the release plans. Back in October they were probably still hopeful that the European tour would happen shortly after the NZ tour - so a Feb/March release made sense. But with the second-wave and new variants sweeping through Europe they probably realise that touring outside NZ/Australia this year is very unlikely. Probably busy working on online promotion and maybe some pay-per-view livestream events to coincide with the release.
Thanks for the fully of replies on this - I'm cool with waiting for the new music - as is always the case and as someone rightly pointed out, 2020 was a bit of a boom for NF/CH interactions with all that went on...
I would like a little more clarity about the UK leg of the tour mind you at this stage - I know a lot of frenz planned to follow the tour round, so there is the planning / logistics part of this for a few people and has been mentioned whilst vaccines are being rolled out, with all the new variants and confusion, it does make me think the tour will be moved again....
Well... we now know that the second single is getting released next Thursday thanks to Neil’s Fangradio schedule announcement. That still gives me hope that there may be some kind of physical version that can be purchased at the concerts. Vinyl would be great!
it looks like we are going to be spoilt by Fangradio again too - great schedule!!
'To The Island' tour is ON ...
facebook.com/crowdedhouse
"Crowded House are excited to be touring NZ in March and are still hoping to find their way to stages around the world later in the year with the release of their new album, "Dreamers Are Waiting".
@Whysus posted:Well... we now know that the second single is getting released next Thursday thanks to Neil’s Fangradio schedule announcement. That still gives me hope that there may be some kind of physical version that can be purchased at the concerts. Vinyl would be great!
it looks like we are going to be spoilt by Fangradio again too - great schedule!!
Thanks for alerting me to this 😎 Looking forward to it. Fangradio brought great solace during the initial lockdown. Tbh I was pretty underwhelmed by the first single and I’m hoping for something with a bigger emotional kick for the second one 🤩
Crowded House announces Dreamers Are Waiting
released date June 4th apparently ... track list: 1. Bad Times Good 2. Playing With Fire 3. To The Island 4. Sweet Tooth 5. Whatever You Want 6. Show Me The Way 7. Goodnight Everyone 8. Start Of Something 9. Too Good For This World 10. Real Life Woman 11. Love Isn’t Hard At All 12. Deeper Down
4 June 2021
Anybody aware of how many LP versions there are? I see universal has a tri-colored vinyl and JB-HiFi has a blue one... and a silver one. This could be expensive for completists...
I like the cover art a lot more than Intriguer!
... and just in a blue and black version as well (limited to 500 copies)...
Damn! The Blue and Black version had already sold out 
.... I really hate that fans weren’t given a heads up. Most have probably gone to eBay scalpers...
wow the vinyl variations...
1. Tri colour
2. Blue /black UK sold out but also available as one of three coloured vinyl options via NZ Indies **
3. Blue (standard NZ edition)
4. Silver JB Aust/NZ
5. Bone coloured (cream white) NZ indies (Southbound and Flying Out) **
and possible a coloured vinyl edition in the US via the Target store
@Whysus posted:Anybody aware of how many LP versions there are? I see universal has a tri-colored vinyl and JB-HiFi has a blue one... and a silver one. This could be expensive for completists...
I like the cover art a lot more than Intriguer!
I've so far seen:
Black
Silver (JBHIFI special)
Cyan Blue
Tri Colour
Half/ Half Black & Blue
Of which I have ordered 3 - the shipping to UK for the Silver is crazy so will wait...
Interestingly (to me at least) none of the album covers are signed - depending on where you order you can get a signed "Artcard" (see below links) - though JBHIFI is saying there are 150 signed cd or vinyl for early pre
rders - not sure if they are actual album or artcard
@sinner62 posted:wow the vinyl variations...
1. Tri colour
2. Blue /black UK sold out but also available as one of three coloured vinyl options via NZ Indies **
3. Blue (standard NZ edition)
4. Silver JB Aust/NZ
5. Bone coloured (cream white) NZ indies (Southbound and Flying Out) **
and possible a coloured vinyl edition in the US via the Target store
Great thanks sinner62! I just picked up the Blue and Black from Flying Out...
@sinner62 posted:wow the vinyl variations...
1. Tri colour
2. Blue /black UK sold out but also available as one of three coloured vinyl options via NZ Indies **
3. Blue (standard NZ edition)
4. Silver JB Aust/NZ
5. Bone coloured (cream white) NZ indies (Southbound and Flying Out) **
and possible a coloured vinyl edition in the US via the Target store
Thanks Sinner - postage may well put me of the Bone Cream one too sadly..!
@JamieB... posted:Thanks Sinner - postage may well put me of the Bone Cream one too sadly..!
Hey Jamie - if you are in the UK, HMV have the bone vinyl with free postage... https://store.hmv.com/store/mu...exclusive-bone-vinyl
In https://crowdedhouse.bandtshirts.com.au/ Are prices in Australian dollars?
Finally I bought the blue vinyl with the signed art card. I hope it is hand signed
