07 February 2010 >> T-Shirts & Badges!
We're happy to announce that we will finally have new t-shirts for sale!! These limited edition tour shirts will feature stunning artwork by Vince Lee on both the front and back. They will be available in large or XL in high quality, heavy weight cotton for the price of just £10 each! You will be able to order the shirts from our website from 22 February or buy them from us at our shows!

We've also got some cool new flourescent button badges to mark the album launch, these will also be available from shows for only £1.00!

07 February 2010 >> News Update

Well, what an insane, intense few weeks it's been! We're glad to report that the album is well and truly finished and sounding quite amazing. We didn't realise it at the time but strangely enough we finished the album on the brightest full-moon of the year! Honestly! It's now easy to see that it stands apart from our previous recordings, mainly because of it's uptempo, relentless and experimental sound. The few people who've heard the album all think it's the strongest and most interesting material we've recorded and we won't argue with that. We're very proud of it.

The artwork has once more been a real labour of love for Vince. He could always be found hunched over in the control room of the studio, perfecting his illustrations as we mixed and then mastered the album. The end result is quite spectacular! We've decided to present the CD as a fold out cardboard digi-pak to give us maximum room for the artwork. The digi-paks will be finished in a high gloss coating as should look fantastic.

The CDs are being printed and pressed as we speak and will be available to buy from Monday 22 February...just in time for our European tour!

04 February 2010 >> When The Moon Shines Bright - Preview Tracks
We will be previewing tracks from our new album on our Myspace profile from
WEDNESDAY 10 FEBRUARY!!

STOP PRESS >> 21 JANUARY 2010:
RESERVE A SIGNED COPY OF THE NEW ALBUM. BE QUICK!

We are offering a very limited number (250 copies) of the new album available before the official release date that will be signed by the band (if you'd like a personal message that's no problem). So, if you'd like one of these special CD's and want to be one of the first people anywhere to hear it, please email us as soon as possible to let us know and we will reserve your copy (or copies!) for you. The price will be just 10.00 GBP including UK postage! or just 12.50 GBP to mainland Europe! You don't need to pay for the CD until it's ready to ship so reserving your CD won't cost you a penny.

Payment can be made securely on-line via PayPal (with either paypal or any major credit card... you don't need to have a paypal account to pay by credit card), or with a personal cheque or postal order in British Pounds. We'll contact you when your CD is signed and ready to post.

Click here to reserve your signed copy now! First come, first served. (if the link doesn't work for you on your computer, please email us at: info@wildcardsweb.com

The Wildcards 3rd studio album 'When The Moon Shines Bright' features brand new material written by band members Vince Lee and Martin Vowles. The quality of songwriting is stronger than ever, clearly showing how the band has evolved since their first album 'On Fire' (2004). The band spent most of 2009 writing and arranging tunes for this new disc, taking time out from their usual busy touring schedule to re-evaluate The Wildcards overall direction and it's paid off! There is a much more up-tempo feel with less emphasis on the straight-ahead blues feel of previous recordings. Be prepared for a rock‘n’roll freak show of dark Cuban rhythms laced with heavy tremelo surf 'n' swamp guitar tones, killer vintage R&B, infectious jungle swing and nitro-powered rockabilly all delivered with trademark Wildcards retro weirdness. With suitably creepy artwork from the twisted mind of Vince Lee sealing the package, you can expect a more than worthy successor to the bands critically acclaimed previous release 'Raising Hell’.

The title track is a relentless, hypnotic rollercoaster of a song written by Vince Lee, all about the effects of the full moon on humanity and the animal kingdom. Written as an observation of all the crazy things and strange situations that occur on a full moon... A grinding de-tuned guitar riff and growling bass drive the groove while chanted lyrics deal with Insanity, jealousy, sexual tension, violence and greed. All the good stuff! 'Welcome to The Snakepit', another Vince Lee original with a seductive Eastern vibe. Vince tells the story of a musicians downfall, while his guitar leads the way like a medicine show snake charmer; an epic recording with a highly descriptive story line written in the classic calypso tradition. Martin Vowles wrote and plays lead guitar on the slightly sinister “Django on acid” instrumental 'Dead Cat Bounce' which would have made the perfect sound track for some weird 50's B-movie! He also wrote the surf guitar influenced 'Out of Control', a bass and drum stand-off which features Al Wallis punching out a particularly nasty groove on the Fender bass locked in tight with Kevin Crowe's signature 1940's style jungle drum stampede. The song explores exhilarating new musical and experimental territories for the band.

All of this is served up with a bunch of obscure vintage tunes such as 'Chocolate Shake' by Duke Ellington, a cool re-working of the original big band arrangement, stripped down to its dirty bare bones, a song with some very dark lyrical undertones... pretty risqué for the 1930's you might say! The Wildcards invited young female vocalist Becca Langsford to add a new dimension to their sound, and to sing the lead vocal on their version of Ruth Brown's 'Sweet Baby of Mine'. It showcases Becca's awesome vocal talents on this rocking track from the 50's, full of handclaps and Vince's cool doo-wop backing vocals. Time to shake it all up with a kick-ass rendition of Little Ike's 'She Can Rock'. Vince screams out those Little Richard inspired vocals the only way you can... like he's possessed by Satan himself!. 'Gal From Kokomo' is a West Coast jump blues classic from Roy Brown, fat guitars replace the tenor and baritone saxes of the original version. Guitar Slim's 'Got Sumpin' For You' takes the mood into early 50's rhythm & Blues territory, Vince's outrageous guitar solo mimicking the original's ‘over-amped and too loud in the mix' qualities to chaotic perfection. Time for a little controversy with our last selection, 'Women Are The Root Of All Evil'. An overlooked gem from the 50's by Paul Willams featuring Martin's off the wall guitar fills and a lot of tongue in cheek gospel testifying. Make of it what you will... Praise Them Roots!

The Wildcards will be setting off on tour around The UK and Europe to promote the new release in February/March 2010.

You can see pictures from the rehearsal / recording sessions on our Myspace profile by visiting: http://www.myspace.com/wildcardsmusic and click on "view my pics" under the band photo at the top of the page.

15 August 2009 >> Vince and Al side project news

Vince and Al have recently been working with South West blues musician Thomas Ford. Heres' a press release from Vince...

Thomas Ford (b. Simon Thomas Langsford, 4 July 1985) Is a talented young blues musician based in the South West of England. Thomas has been busy playing shows around the UK since early 2008 as a hard-hitting one-man blues band. He sings and plays National steel guitar, blows rack harmonica and stomps on a tambourine strapped to a suitcase! He was Influenced from a young age by his father, Ian Langsford – founder member of legendary Plymouth blues band ‘The Legal Eagles', Being raised in a musical family with strong links to the blues has certainly rubbed off on him, as anyone who has witnessed his energetic live shows will tell you!

DEBUT ALBUM – SEPARATION STREET

Thomas Ford’s outstanding debut album ‘Separation Street’ is due for release in Spring 2009. The disc will feature performances from Tom’s sister Becca Langsford on vocals and his brother Tim Langsford on drums. Other members include Vince Lee (guitar, lapsteel, ukulele, vocals) and Al Wallis (bass) from internationally acclaimed blues & roots band - The Wildcards. Thomas wrote the majority of the tunes on the album including the title track ‘Separation Street’.

I first met Thomas Ford at a local gig in my hometown Plymouth, he was beating out some footstompin’ blues on a Harmony Arch-tone guitar and blowing serious harmonica. I remember being impressed by his performance and was glad to see a young guy playing the blues and getting it right. We soon became friends and ended up playing live together on a regular basis.
Thomas had just started working on this album when i met him and invited me to play on the record.
Separation Street is a collection of original songs recorded in a makeshift studio by his brother Timmy Langsford who also plays drums on the disc.

Thomas shares vocal duties with his 19 year old sister Becca Langsford, an outstanding blues singer with a mature and powerful voice.
The Dirty Harmonys line up also includes my long-time bass player Al Wallis and Patrick James Pearson who played anything he could get his hands on. He added saxophone, organ, percussion, violin and backing vocals.
This is an impressive debut from a young blues musician who proves himself a thoughtful songwriter with dark humour attached to every line he sings. His music has a timeless simplicity that will leave these tunes swimming around in your head for days - Vince Lee

Thomas Ford on Myspace
Thomas Ford featuring Vince Lee & Al Wallis on national Dutch Televison show!! (skip the video to 22 minutes)

31 July 2009 >> Follow us on Twitter!
You can now get the latest snippets of news, often on a daily basis by following The Wildcards on Twitter the mico-blog site.
The Wildcards on Twitter

26 July 2009 >> Youtube video of "St. James Infirmary"
A crazy little video of St. James Infirmary from the album Raising Hell. The animation is from "Swing Brother Swing!", 1930 by the Fleischer Studios.

18 June 2009 >> Welcome to the new website!
Welcome to The Wildcards new look website! We think this site not only looks better and is faster to browse, but is packed with more information and offers a better insight into the band what we are up to. We hope you like it! If you have any suggestions to make it better or would just like to heap praise on us, please email us.

10 June 2009 >> Recording 3rd Studio Album
The Wildcards will be recording our 3rd studio album over the summer. We are returning to the PMC studios in Plymouth where we recorded our critically acclaimed albums "On Fire!" and "Raising Hell".

We have been working hard over the past few months, writing lots of new material. We're in the good position of having too many numbers to choose from at the moment and we're currently narrowing down the list and finalising arrangements. This is definitely the strongest and possibly most eclectic music we've ever written. We're amassing a vast array of cool and weird vintage guitars, amps, percussion and instruments to help us get "that sound" once recording starts soon.

The as yet untitled album is due for release early 2010 with an extensive UK tour to back it up. More info and video updates coming soon!

23 May 2009 >> Youtube video of "Hell"

20 May 2009 >> New Exclusive European Distribution
Our CD's are now exclusively available in Europe through Rootscd.com. Check out their great range of blues, rockabilly and roots releases. Rootscd work directly with their artists, this ensures the artists receive much more money for their music than from a record company or traditional distributor. Rootscd are also becoming well known for the speed and the high quality of their service.
Direct links:
http://www.rootscd.com/wildcardsCDraisinghell.php
http://www.rootscd.com/wildcardsCDonfire.php

April 2009 >> New tour pics from February show
We toured Holland, Belgium and Denmark during February and had some really great shows. You can see a collection of photographs from the shows on our Myspace page.
The Wildcards myspace Pictures

05 January 2009 >> Download Raising Hell through iTunes
We're delighted to announce that you can now download individual tracks from our album Raising Hell for just $0.99 each or the entire album and artwork for just $9.99.
Visit iTunes

Older News

RAISING HELL IN TOP 10 BEST BLUES ALBUMS OF 2007!
We're very proud to announce that our album - Raising Hell - has been voted No. 7 best blues album of 2007 by readers of Blues Matters Magazine, UK!

Here's the Top 10 from the 50 best albums of 2007.

1. Ian Siegal - Swagger
2. Joe Bonamassa - Sloe Gin
3. Omar Dykes & Jimmy Vaughan - Jimmy Reed Highway
4. Johhny Maestro - Take Me To Your Maker
5. Ana Popovic - Still Making History
6. Kenny Wayne Shepherd - 10 Days Out
7. The Wildcards - Raising Hell
8. Matt Schofield - Ear To The Ground
9. Robben Ford - Truth
10. Koko Taylor - Old School

I think you'll agree, not bad at all and thank you to everyone who voted for us!
More info from: www.bluesmatters.com

EASTWOOD GUITARS
Eastwood Guitars
The Wildcards are currently featured artists on the Eastwood Guitars Radio Player on their great website. Check out Eastwood's very cool retro guitars, we love 'em! Vince has demonstrated many of their guitars on youtube, these videos have been really popular. Check out some of Vinces cool playing, follow this link: Vince Lee / Eastwood Guitars / YouTube

ON TOUR WITH THE FABULOUS THUNDERBIRDS
The Fabulous Thunderbirds
We are very excited to announce that The Wildcards will be touring in Germany with the legendary Fabulous Thunderbirds during April 2008! Full details of the dates are now available on our shows page. This will be a great opportunity for us to appear at some new and larger venues and we're looking forward to winning some new German fans!
Note: see pictures from the tour on Myspace: The Wildcards On Tour With The Fabulous Thunderbirds

FREE BBC RADIO 2 SESSION TRACK
Because we're kind like that. Recorded at the world famous Maida Vale studios in London 2006.
Terra Mae (right click and "save target as" to download with Windows or for Mac right click and select "Download linked file").

CD BABY & DOWNLOADS
The new album Raising Hell is now available to buy through this website for £10.00 and also through the American website CDBaby, they'll ship Worldwide and offer a 10% discount if you buy more than one cd. The album costs $14.97 or $12.97 as a download.

While your at the CD Baby site why not write a review of Raising Hell for all to read!

Soon you'll be able to download Wildcards tracks through i-tunes, Rhapsody, Yahoo and Napster. We'll keep you updated on this important development.

HEAR THE WILDCARDS LIVE CONCERT THROUGH THE INTERNET!
You can catch The Wildcards in concert on BluesTrainFM, Holland on Tuesday 27 November 2007 between 19.00-21.00 CET. The concert was recorded at The Witte Theatre, IJmuiden near Amsterdam, Holland on Sunday 18 November 2007.

WORLDWIDE RADIO AIRPLAY
We've been picking up airplay on boths sides of the Atlantic, check-out The Blues Disease in California, goes out on Mondays and has a fantastic playlist week-in, week-out. Hosted by Jeff Fleenor, it's one show that's really worth tuning into every week. You can hear The Blues Disease through the internet by visiting their website.

Also we've had airplay on CKLN, Canada. The show is Lowdown To Uptown, check it out! And many great blues shows in Europe too. We'd like to thank all the DJ's involved for their support.

PRESS
We've been picking up a lot of interest from the cream of blues World's press, with present and forthcoming reviews and interviews in Blues Matters (UK), Blues In Britain (UK), Back To The Roots (Belgium), Block (Holland), Blues News (Germany), Blues Revue (USA)....the list goes on! Blues Matters are running a major interview with us that's ear-marked for issue 42 (February 2008). More details soon.

RAISING HELL - CD RELEASE
On the 19th October 2007 The Wildcards released their second studio album entitled Raising Hell. The 12 track album has already gathered some fantastic reviews from critics both in Europe and the USA and has been a big hit with the fans too!

Recorded at the PMC studios in Plymouth, England during 2007, the album features seven new original tunes written between Martin and Vince and some very carefully selected covers.

The striking artwork has been a real labour of love with Vince supplying some stunning hand drawn illustrations and Martin designing and putting the whole package together. The 12 page booklet includes over 40 photographs of the band and includes detailed information on all the tracks.

Buy the album

GARY PRIMICH
www.garyprimich.com
Gary Primich, considered by many to be one of the greatest harmonica players in the world, passed away suddenly on September 23rd. Not only is this the loss of a world-class talent, but also of a true world-class person. Offstage, Gary was a caring and gentle soul — a real Regular Joe of the best kind. Onstage he played with a ferocity and indescribable sound that was often mind-blowing. He'd say Thank You to his fans then quickly change the subject because he didn't want it to be all about him. He loved animals, he loved people, he loved music and he loved life. Gary's career sent him around the world, traveling thousands and thousands of miles for his love of music, but he'll always be right here, in our hearts.

The Wildcards toured with Gary around Europe in 2006 and we are devastated to hear this sad news. Only recently we were talking together with Gary about another tour planned for 2008.

We had recorded Gary's song Hoodoo Preacher on our forthcoming album and have now decided to dedicate the album to his memory.

If you don't own any of Gary albums then you should! They're essential listening.