Tag: Katie Noonan

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Katie Noonan Plays Her Songbook With Strings

If you weren’t paying attention, you might have missed the release of Katie Noonan’s new album. There was little fanfare when Songbook hit record store shelves recently, but it’s an album which shouldn’t fly under the radar.

The disc sees Katie reinventing key songs from her career with the help of a lush strings section. This version of “Breathe In Now” from her George days made me melt. I’m desperate to wrap my ears around the rest of the album.

Songbook is available in limited numbers through Katie’s website and iTunes. It’s been launched in conjunction with a real songbook which features sheet music, rare photographs, and the stories behind the songs that made Katie a household name.

This is such a personal album that it’s only fitting that Katie wants to introduce it to her fans in a series of intimate shows. Making them extra special, Katie promises to share the stories behind the songs she plays with her audiences. She’ll also play her first ever shows in America this week as part of the Songbook tour before returning home for the Australian dates.

27 February 2013 – Tin Angel, Philadelphia
28 February 2013 – Rockwood Music Hall, New York
2 March 2013 – Room 5, Los Angeles
7 March 2013 – Garden Of Unearthly Delights, Adelaide Fringe Festival
6 April 2013 – Old Museum – Concert Hall, Brisbane (with string quartet)
11 April 2013 – Heritage Hotel , Bulli
12 April 2013 – The Abbey, Canberra
13 April 2013 – The Basement, Sydney (with string quartet)
14 April 2013 – Clarendon Guesthouse, Katoomba
27 April 2013 – Flinders Performance Centre, Buderim
2 May 2013 – Brass Monkey, Cronulla
3 May 2013 – Lizotte’s, Dee Why
4 May 2013 – Lizotte’s, Kincumber
5 May 2013 – Lizotte’s, New Lambton

Image used with permission from Heapsaflash

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Katie Noonan & Karin Schaupp Do Down Under Covers

Katie Noonan is something of a musical enigma. You never know quite what you’re going to get as she flits between bands, duos, and solo endeavours. Her latest project sees her joining forces with classical guitarist Karin Schaupp for a brand new album, dubbed Songs of the Southern Skies.

As the album’s title suggests, this disc is all about exploring the music close to their collective hearts. It features covers of tracks from some of Australia and New Zealand’s best. There’s everything from the Cold Chisel to Gotye to classical guitarist Richard Charlton represented. It’s also got an enviable guest list, with Iva Davies, Gurrumul, and Chris Cheney all making appearances.

“This project brings together my two main musical loves, classical and pop music,” Katie Noonan explained. “As an artist I love blurring the boundaries of genre and hearing musical worlds collide. This project is a wonderful opportunity for Karin and I to do exactly that!  Karin is a wonderful, virtuosic and sensitive player and combined with our fantastic arrangers and some of Australia’s leading composers, it is really great to hear these songs we know and love come to life in a new and exciting way!’

Songs of the Southern Skies hits music stores in August. Katie Noonan and Karin Schaupp will play the following shows to support its release.

4 August 2012 – Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Townsville
13 September 2012 – Community Centre, Byron Bay
14 September 2012 –  Jetty Theatre, Coffs Harbour
15 September 2012 – Glasshouse Theatre, Port Macquarie
19 September 2012 – Capital Theatre, Bendigo
20 September 2012 – Wellers Restaurant, Kangaroo Ground
21 September 2012 – Recital Centre, Melbourne
22 September 2012 – Performing Arts Centre, Wangaratta
27 September 2012 – Entertainment Centre, Albany
28 September 2012 – Winthrop Hall, Perth
29 September 2012 – Performing Arts Centre, Mandurah
1 October 2012 – The White House, Adelaide Hills
5 October 2012 – Empire Church Theatre, Toowoomba
6 October 2012 – Starcourt Theatre, Lismore
11 October 2012 – Lizotte’s Restaurant, Newcastle
12 October 2012 – Laycock Street Theatre, Gosford
13 & 14 October 2012 – Street Theatre, Canberra
18 October 2012 – The Majestic Theatre, Pomona
19 October 2012 – Powerhouse Theatre, Brisbane
26 October 2012 – Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, Wollongong
27 October 2012 – City Recital Hall, Sydney

Image used with permission from AVM Publicity

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Katie Noonan Leaves Sony for Independent Projects

Katie Noonan has parted ways with Sony Music Australia after three years and two albums.

Katie worked with Sony on her Beatles cover album Blackbird and Emperors Box, the album with her band The Captains. But now she’s spreading her wings as she looks to stretch herself artistically in a more creative, independent environment.

“My creative musings have always been fairly left of centre and we just felt that, moving forward, this may be better housed in an independent environment,” she said in a statement.

Katie will leave The Captains, at least temporarily, as she returns again to Elixir. The trio plans to record an album inspired by the poetry of Thomas Shapcott. It sounds intriguing, as most Katie Noonan projects do, so I can’t wait to give it a listen when it hits stores around August!

Image source: The Harbour Agency

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Katie Noonan Announces Final Emporer’s Box Tour

Katie Noonan is preparing to tour the country with her Captains one last time before returning to her trio Elixir.

If you want to catch Katie playing the tracks from the highly acclaimed album Emperor’s Box, this tour is the time to do it. The venues are first class, so add in Katie’s soaring vocals and some incredible tunes and you’ve got a recipe for a great night out!

I can only hope that this doesn’t spell the end of The Captains. They’ve produced some amazing music, which has excited me more than any other Katie Noonan venture since George. I’ll cross my fingers that we haven’t seen the last of them.

Tickets are on sale from the venues for the following shows.

21 & 22 February 2011 – The Famous Speigeltent, Adelaide
25 February 2011 – Kings Park, Perth
26 & 27 February 2011 – The Famous Speigeltent at The Arts Centre, Melbourne
4 March 2011 – Judith Wright Centre Theatre, Brisbane
5 March 2011 – The Factory Theatre, Sydney
18 March 2011 – Lizotte’s Dee Why
19 & 20 March 2011 – Blue Mountains Folk Festival

Image used with permission from Heapsaflash

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Katie Noonan and The Captains Tour “Emperor’s Box”

The gorgeous Katie Noonan and her new outfit The Captains will tour the country this June to promote their debut album Emperor’s Box.

The band have been slowly developing their songs over the last two and a half years, and are said to be thrilled to take the tracks on the road.

Tickets for the following shows are on sale from the venues now.

5 June 2010 – Tanks Art Centre, Cairns
11 June 2010 – The Governor Hindmarsh Hotel, Adelaide
12 & 13 June 2010 – The Fly By Night, Fremantle
18 June 2010 – The Hi Fi, Melbourne
19 June 2010 – Metro Theatre, Sydney
25 June 2010 – The Powerhouse Theatre, Brisbane
26 June 2010 – Joe’s Waterhole, Eumundi

Image used with permission from Heapsaflash

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Q & A with Katie Noonan

Katie Noonan first came to our attention as the frontwoman of Brisbane band George. Now she’s captaining a new ship, stepping out as lead vocalist of The Captains. I had the pleasure of chatting with Katie recently about her new project, balancing motherhood and music, and her hopes for the planet.

You’re about to release your new album with The Captains, Emperor’s Box, which I believe is the album you’re most proud of. What do you love about it?
It’s basically a return to that organic band sound that I think I’m most in love with. I love collaborating and I’ve finally found the right collaborators to share my music with.

When I listened to it what struck me most is the beautiful lush instrumentation. What have The Captains been like to work with?
Well I guess you can hear how wonderful they are as musicians and the craftsmanship they’ve brought to my songs and to our sound. We really just wanted to work on making an organic band sound that sounded cohesive and sounded like people that really enjoyed making music together.

The lyrics are also so gorgeous. After recording the covers album Blackbird, what did it feel like to get back into writing original songs?
Well I never left it, because I’m always writing. And I was writing the songs for this record all through the making of that record as well, because my main motivation is always writing my own music and trying to find my own sound, as a singer and a keyboardist, and a co-producer on this record.

So some of these songs are really old, and some of them are really new. Some were freshly inspired by being with The Captains and writing with them. Some of them evolved really slowly, some of them are 11 or 12 years old and they finally found the right home with The Captains, and some are really new written specifically for this band. It’s a real mixed bag.

The Blackbird thing was a real sidestep for me. It was a jazz record, and as you say I wasn’t singing my own songs, so that’s kind of a real sidestep for me from my main trajectory as an artist. But it was just such an incredible opportunity to work with these amazing musicians, and I couldn’t possibly pass it up. It was just amazing to work with them.

You worked on the tracks for the new album with some amazing people as well, including Tim Finn, Sia, and Don Walker. Who else is on your wish list for collaborating?
It’s not like I had a wish list. It was just circumstance and fate that led to those meetings and those pairings. I mean, Tim has been on my wish list to co-write with for a while. It took a few years to get that one together. Basically I’ve always been a big fan, but when I heard his record Imaginary Kingdom I was blown away. It’s such a hot record. So that was kind of the main wish list person that I had.

And then of course to work with Don Walker was such an honor, because he’s such an incredible songwriter. And then the others, Josh [Pyke] and Sia, are more contemporaries of mine, and we just kind of found each other through a series of circumstances and enjoyed the collaborating process.
Continue reading “Q & A with Katie Noonan” →

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

First Taste of Katie Noonan and The Captains Debut Album

Katie Noonan is one of those artists who never seems to sit still.

She became an indie goddess with her work in George, turned to a more reflective jazz-laded sound with her first solo album Skin, and explored the works of Lennon and McCartney with Blackbird. For the last two years Katie’s gone in another direction with her latest band, The Captains. With Cameron Deyell on guitar, Stu Hunter on keys and bass, and Declan Kelly manning the drums, Katie is now exploring a more organic sound.

The band’s album, Emperor’s Box, is slated for an April release, so we’ve still got a few months to wait, but today I got a taste of what’s to come. I heard one of the new songs, “Time,” and I’m very impressed. I think the George fans who criticized Katie’s solo albums will embrace this, as it really is back to basics. There’s a little edge here, just a hint of that familiar George angst, but it’s softened by strings and Katie’s pure, heavenly voice.

For this album Katie’s written tracks with a who’s who of Australian and New Zealand talent. There’s Tim Finn, Don Walker, Sia, Josh Pyke, and Tom Shapcott, not to mention her esteemed Captains band mates. With these kind of folks lending their skills, I’m sure Emperor’s Box will be one of the big albums of 2010.

KatieNoonan_Aug09

Image source: The Harbour Agency

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Katie Noonan Does The Beatles

Katie Noonan has breathed new life into the evergreen tunes of Lennon and McCartney in her new album Blackbird. To celebrate the landmark release, Katie will perform four very special intimate shows.

Highlights of the album include versions of “Across the Universe,” “Eleanor Rigby,” “Michelle” and of course, “Blackbird.” Katie is ably supported on the album and tour by her all-star jazz quartet featuring Joe Lovano, John Scofield, Lewis Nash, and Ron Carter.

These once-in-a-lifetime shows go on sale this Monday, October 6 from the venues.

9 December 2008 – The Studio @ Sydney Opera House
11 December 2008 – Prince of Wales Hotel, Melbourne
19 & 20 December 2008 – QPAC @ Cremorne Theatre, Brisbane

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Katie Noonan Signs with Sony BMG

The gorgeous Katie Noonan has just signed a new record deal with Sony BMG Australia that will see her release a new album by the end of the year.

“I have admired Katie from her first release and I am delighted that she has joined our label. We will be releasing her new studio album in October and I am sure it will gain her even further acclaim from existing and new fans here and abroad,” said Sony BMG Chairman Denis Handlin.

Katie will head to New York shortly to record the release with some massive names. Her band will include original Miles Davis quartet member Lewis Nash, Grammy-award winning saxophonist Joe Lovano, jazz guitar legend John Scofield, and Melbourne’s own Sam Keevers. I thought Katie’s first solo effort Skin was brilliant, so I can’t wait to hear this star-studded new release!

Image source: Ina Banina @ Flickr

Posted on by Lauren Katulka

Stars Raise Awareness of Climate Change

You may have seen Cate Blanchett talking about the Who On Earth Cares website on TV, but she’s not the only Australian celebrity supporting this fantastic climate change site.

Felix Riebl (The Cat Empire), Mark Seymour, Mia Dyson, Katie Noonan, and Jen Cloher have joined more than 13, 000 Australians who’ve signed on to raise awareness of this key environmental issue.

“I care about climate change because this world is an amazing, wonderful place, and I find it depressing to think that I was part of a species that wrecked so much of that beauty,” Felix says on his Who on Earth Cares profile.

“I am concerned about climate change because it will make the very world unliveable if we let climate change continue its course,” added Mia Dyson.

So don’t let it happen! Join these celebrities and sign up on the website. You’ll be inspired by the cool energy saving tips. The site will even help you compose a letter encouraging your local government member to develop more responsible climate change policies. But my favourite part is the interactive map, which lets you read what other environmentally conscious folks are doing in your neighbourhood. Check it out!

Image source: Stuart Sevastos @ Wikimedia Commons