Friends are forged on the dark road headed out of town, and so we head there again, beginning on June 4, 2019 in Portsmouth, UK.
A quick note from the factory floor here.
There are a lot of things that slay me about touring with Nights of Grief & Mystery, but few more so than what can land on the table when wrestling with language to properly describe the thing. We seem to be learning about “what this is” as we go along. In the beginning, we were happy to admit that we didn’t know and were more likely to be able to tell you a whole lot of “what it isn’t”. The more we travelled with The Nights, though, the more we understood that simply saying “what it isn’t” was, in fact, a cop-out. Follow?
So here’s our latest understanding:
We have an idea where the monsters are. That’s where we’re headed.
The tour will Take us to 28 cities in the UK and North America for 32…shows?Performances? Nights, is what I prefer to call them.
Or 32 chances to get it right. We know what “it” is.
That dark road thing?
That image is more than an image. That is what we do. That is our devotional act. And those monsters? Probably not what you expecting. That’s another thing that slays me about the Nights: mostly they are everything you wouldn’t expect.
The Unrepentant Night is a recasting of songs from 2017’s Vain + Alone 2.0. There is not much to say with regard to the “why” of it, except to say that it is this artist’s desire to have his songs live for more than the allotted 2 minutes the current clime affords them, such is his attachment to them. Also, it is this artist’s opinion that Kevin Breit is a genius and the honour of having him turn his considerable talents on these songs is all mine. Breit’s playing and producing relationship with music is all chest down: there is very little of The Head that gets in the way, other than the requisite amount to move muscles, tendons, and the like, and there is palpable feel and intention in his approach. It could be said that his head helps him get to the heart of the thing, then it fucks off.
I’m proud of what I did on Vain + Alone and equally proud of the decision to pursue this recording in the manner I did. I learned an untold amount from afar watching Kevin Breit reshape the songs. Understand, I was not a part of any of those decisions. I wrote the songs and sang the songs. That’s all. As he describes it, the kids would leave for school at 8:30am, he’d sit with a pad in his lap in front of his gear and put his head down to listen to the V+A version, then its 3:30pm, the kids would be coming through the door, the head would snap up to greet them and the bulk of a track was done.
About as close to magic as I might ever get.
gh
Produced, performed, arranged, engineered, and mastered by Kevin Breit
Written and sung by Gregory Hoskins
Additional appearances by:
Mike Stevens, harmonica
Ciro De Batista, drums and percussion
Batt Brubeck, cello
Davide Direnzo, drums
Lisa Hodgson, bg vox
Produced in part thanks to a grant from The Ontario Arts Council.
Nights of Grief & Mystery: Portsmouth, UKJune 4, 2019The Groundlings Theatre, 42 Kent St, Portsmouth PO1 3BS, UKWith Stephen Jenkinson and the band. Tickets: nightsofgriefandmystery.com
Nights of Grief & Mystery: Brighton, UKJune 6, 2019The Old Market, 11A Upper Market St, Hove, Brighton BN3 1AS, UKWith Stephen Jenkinson and the band. Tickets: https://nightsofgriefandmystery.com
Nights of Grief & Mystery: Totnes, UKJune 7, 2019Town Hall, 5 Ramparts Walk, TotnesWith Stephen Jenkinson and the band. Tickets: https://nightsofgriefandmystery.com
Nights of Grief & Mystery: London, UKJune 8, 2019The Study Society, 151 Talgarth Rd, Hammersmith, London W14 9DA, UKWith Stephen Jenkinson and the band. Tickets: https://nightsofgriefandmystery.com
Nights of Grief & Mystery: Canterbury, UKJune 9, 2019Westgate Hall Rd, Canterbury CT1 2BT, UKWith Stephen Jenkinson and the band. Tickets: https://nightsofgriefandmystery.com
Nights of Grief & Mystery: Edingburgh, UKJune 11, 2019Teviot Row House Student Union, 13 Bristo Pl, Edinburgh EH8 9AJ, UKWith Stephen Jenkinson and the band. Tickets: https://nightsofgriefandmystery.com
Nights of Grief & Mystery: Bristol, UKJune 13, 2019St George's House, St Georges House, 101 St George's Rd, Bristol BS1 5UP, UKWith Stephen Jenkinson and the band. Tickets: https://nightsofgriefandmystery.com
Nights of Grief & Mystery: Fishguard, UKJune 14, 2019Theater Gawun, West St.With Stephen Jenkinson and the band. Tickets: https://nightsofgriefandmystery.com
