A local band that I like a lot will be releasing a new album in a couple of weeks. The band is called Have Gun, Will Travel and the album tells the story of British explorer Ernest Shackleton's voyage(s) to Antarctica. That's all I know about it and I don't know the band personally, but they have released a couple of videos which I think are great. And I love their sound.

Telling the story of an historic event via an entire album may not be a first, but it is certainly uncommon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I5L80j5CFI

Check out True Believers.

Hey Colin,

Great video. And the song itself stands alone, but is obviously part of a greater story.

I'm sure it will be confusing to the young folks who haven't studied history, but hopefully will light a spark. ( We do a lot of history regarding the Antarctic here in OZ and NZ also )

I think the concept album hasn't been done well in quite awhile, so good luck to them, it's all working well so far.

cheers, niteshift

PS - as a side story, I was only down that way 3 weeks ago. Flew into Queenstown, with Ms Rock Chic as my travelling companion, and then did the triangle, from Queenstown to Dunedin, then to Invercargill, and back to Queenstown. Had to visit Bluff, the ass end ( proper ) of NZ, ( if you don't count Stewart Island ) and had to take a photo in front of the sign.





You can't see the one that says "Antarctica 3000 kms, but believe me, it's there.

While looking at the Southern Ocean from a glass walled pub/restaurant, just up the cliff from the sign, Ms Rock Chic thought that she would be funny and send off a text to Mum, "Have just jumped an icebreaker to the South Pole, leaving in 45 minutes, might be late back home"

Incredibly the reply was "So jealous, have fun !"

Sorry for the thread drift, but having just been there, these guys would absolutely nail it in that part of the world. It would almost be a walk on part both in attitude and style, especially in Dunedin, very folksy and hip.

Maybe they could contact the various music venues as well as the relevant historical societies, as see what may eventuate ?

Now, back to our regular programming....

cheers, niteshift

Wow.....still another 3,000km south. Cute pic with your traveling companion. She is probably lots of fun to go with.

A lot of people in the US will not know the back story. Maybe HGWT will educate them.

Hey Colin,

Yeah, it's probably not necessary to be aware of the back story, because the song stands upright by itself, but then you have a another great story within a story, so it all works.

Good luck to them !

cheers, niteshift

It's funny that you just post this as I'm speaking with an artist about a similar idea for his next album (different part of history though). I think it's a cool way to build a story around the release and gain long term fans that are interested in it. But, for the Average Joe listener it won't make much of a difference as he just won't care enough to dig deeper into it. He will hear a song and simply decides if he likes it or not, no matter if it's part of a bigger picture or not. Of course it's different for you and me and most other JPF members as we are all kind of nuts for being into songwriting, but the majority of people isn't ;-)

I did a concept CD once about a historic event in our local history, called Death on the Ice. I never sold enough to recover my cost but I am glad I did it. It meant a lot to people that were touched by that disaster which is a hundred years in our past. Some schools bought it to teach kids about what happened. Radio didn't support it because it was to sad a story. Go figure.

Songcat and Everett,

I will be interested to see how they do with this album. They have a great sound and a pretty good fan base so the theme of the album may not be that important, but it is an interesting way to come up with cohesive lyrics and stories.

In the late 1990's I got enamored with the musical "Les Miserables'." It was actually ten years after it had come out, but I found it through a DVD I rented about the staged concert. I even went to New York, after having met a member of the cast online, and got to tour the backstage of the set on Broadway. Did some of the songs, was a real Les Miz freak for a while.

One of the things that struck me was the story telling aspect, which Musical theater has always done, but to have NO DIALOGUE and just music was interesting.

At the same time, I had a bunch of my own songs, written and fully recorded, and figured, "instead of just putting together another CD, why not do a concept?" So I did. It was called "THE NEXT BIG THING" and told the story of Bobby and Billy, two 85 year old guys, who "escaped the retirement home for one more trip to Las Vegas." They had grown up together and actually formed a band out of high school in the 60's. The story was told in flashback throughout their lives and the songs corresponded with that.

I knew a printer at the time who printed up an entire booklet with pictures and the story. Was a lot of fun, just really for friends and family, but I found it an interesting way to present some songs and make up something in an interesting presentation form. Never really intended much past that. Was a lot of fun and still pretty proud of that.

This is a unique story on this band and reminded me of my own. What we are always trying to do is find a new niche for our music. So if you have some songs that seemingly "don't go together" see if you can construct a story and combine them. An interesting experiment if nothing else.

MAB

Hi Colin:

The dynamics of reaching today's American listening audience may be a tough nut to crack... but the story about Shackleton and his men... and their accomplishment could work well if all the bases get covered. The good news... there was a series in the not so recent past about Shackleton on PBS. (The bad news... I wonder how many watched it?)

Here's hoping HGWT hits the big time with this album. Keep us posted if it is convenient... and thanks for sharing. ----Dave

Considering that the modern attention span is 8 seconds, and that most people's idea of "history" is what happened day before yesterday, something that happened over a hundred years ago, is probably going to have limited appeal no matter how well intentioned or conducted.

MAB

Thanks for your thoughts on this idea. I now have the full CD and have been listening in the car.

Here is a review from No Depression.... http://nodepression.com/album-review/science-easy-chair-musical-trip-antarctica-have-gun-will-travel