After touring and recording as a part of bands Dinosaur Pile Up and Old Romantic Killer Band, Leeds based musician Harry George Johns, goes solo, with his new mini album ‘Post Breakdown Blues’. A mini album of a incredibly personal diary of a dark and desperate time.
As Winter 2011 was in full flow, Harry found himself confronting issues such as mental illness, heartbreak and homelessness. He stayed on a friends floor with a laptop and a few microphones, and inspired by this dark time, Harry wrote and recorded ‘Post Breakdown Blues’.
Talking of the album Harry says:
“Over the course of one single week in December 2011, I lost my girl, my house, my job and pretty much my mind. I was sat in The Well in Leeds with a bag of clothes and my skateboard trying to figure out not what went wrong, but simply where I was going to sleep that night. Drinking and drugs and all that stuff had taken over during the run-up to me losing everything. I knew I had to finally go talk to the doctors and therapists people had spent months urging me to see.
If there was anything that was going to help me pull through what looked to be the most heartbroken, poorest new year so far it was a handful of friends that let me sleep on their sofas, eat their toast and play their guitars.”
Post Breakdown Blues Track listing:
1. Tie Your Own Noose
2. All You Can Do
3. Drink Myself To Sleep
4. Sleep Is The Cousin of Death
5. Morning Song
6. Hospital Blues
Free download track ‘Hospital Blues:
[soundcloud params=”auto_play=true&show_comments=true&color=0ac4ff”] https://soundcloud.com/harrygeorgejohns/harry-george-johns-hospital [/soundcloud]
Previously known for his raucous on and off stage antics, touring all over the world with bands like Supergrass, Sunshine Underground, Therapy and Von Bondies, as well as playing at Leeds and Reading festival in the UK and SXSW in Texas, Harry’s new material sees him produce his most honest work to date. With these new songs, Harry has drawn upon influences like the bluesy big voices of Taj Mahal, Joe Cocker, Son House and Robert Plant combined with the tenderness of Ryan Adams and John Martyn.
Fans will be able to download the mini album from his Bandcamp on a ‘pay what you want’ basis, just in time for Valentine’s Day, but those who want to get to know the man behind the music will have the opportunity to write Harry a letter – that’s right, an actual physical letter, and Harry will reply with a personal note and exclusive tracks only available via old fashioned snail mail.
Mini album ‘Post Breakdown Blues’ set for release on 11th February, 2013