Rummage is one of the many projects
of Scottish musician Mark Mulholland, in which he teams up with a couple
of friends and long-time musical collaborators,
Rusty Miller and James
Finch Jr from Jackpot on a dozen of his songs, laid down at a studio near San Francisco in 2014.
Born in Glasgow, Mark has been playing in bands
since the late '80s, travelling the world with stops in Berlin, Paris, Prague
and Galway along the way, combining his solo career with
various bands and projects such as acoustic roots outfit Two Dollar Bash
and indie-rockers Impure Thoughts, as well as session work with Nikki
Sudden, Captain Sensible and many others. In 2010, he moved to Haiti for
four years, during which time he collaborated on the just released Afro-Haitian Experimental Orchestra project with legendary
Nigerian drummer Tony Allen and also with dEUS guitarist Craig Ward, before relocating to Bamako, Mali, where he is working
on several new projects with many of the fantastic musicians there, including
internationally acclaimed kora maestros Toumani
Diabate and Madou Sidiki Diabate.
While in Prague in the early 90s, Mark met Rusty Miller, a songwriter and
multi-instrumentalist from Northern California, who has made many albums with
his own bands Jackpot and Nightgown,
as well as being an in-demand sideman for the likes of Cake, Chuck
Prophet and Jason Lytle.
Rusty’s European tours and Mark’s US trips permitted the pair to meet quite
frequently, before both Jackpot
and Two Dollar Bash were invited
to the prestigious SXSW festival
in Austin, Texas in 2007, where Mark also became firm friends with Jackpot guitarist James Finch Jr. SXSW turned into a regular
meeting, and later James worked with Mark on the recording of his second solo
album, 2011’s critically acclaimed The
Cactus And The Dragon.
The trio met in California in May 2014 to finally
record the album they had talked for years of making. Booking time in the
studio James was working in at Stinson Beach, Marin County, they locked
themselves in for 5 days, working up to 18 hours a day. The resulting 12 songs
range from raw rock'n'roll (‘Ebb and
Flow’, ‘Hoodathunkit’), catchy pop-rock (‘Dreaming of Trains’, ‘Claret Blue’), laid-back blues and grooves (‘Give Me A Ride’, ‘Less Than Tomorrow’),
up-tempo country (‘Smoke Trails’)
to wistful folk and late night melancholy (‘Floods Of Memories’, ‘Fucked Up Again’).
“This record is really about three good friends,
who also happen to be extremely talented musicians, having a great time
together. Luckily, it's not a private party and there is more than enough here
to let the listener join in the good times.”
FATEA
“Adaptable and skilled… The songs show off their
range. They are approaching the status of power-pop royalty.” AMERICANA UK
“A very cool and playable record that you'll want
to listen to a good few times. 8/10” WHISPERIN’ & HOLLERIN’
Cannery Row Records Cat. No. CRR 1621
Format: CD/DL
Release date: 27 May 2016
Distribution: Highlander
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