I’ll be here for another three weeks and then I’ll be heading back up to Canada, hopefully it will have warmed up a bit. I just read that they’re expecting a load of snow this weekend and I really don’t feel very excited about the slush and water logged boots. Bring on the green grass and trees with leaves please! One thing I am really looking forward to (apart from seeing my family and friends) is finally getting to see The Rolling Stones in Toronto. Hopefully that will ease the pain of missing out on seeing Neil and Crazy Horse… I just was never in the right place at the right time unfortunately.

Well that’s all from me for the moment, be good to each other and I love you all!
x Chris

With Chad Mason, outside of Santa’s Pub, Nashville

NEW RINGTONE

‘Silent Treatment’ is now available as a ringtone from the iTunes store.  Search for it on your iPhone.

AUSSIE SONGWRITER NIGHT @ THE LISTENING ROOM

On Friday 19th April Australians will be taking over The Listening Room (2nd Avenue, Nashville) for a songwriter in the round night from 9:30pm.  Chris will be joined by songbird Emma Swift and hit songwriter Phil Barton.

VIDEO: NOTHING BUT NICE THINGS

Recorded at the Candlelight Concert Series in the Barossa Valley during the Sea of Lights Tour last November.

Hey there good people!

It’s been a spectacularly awesome month for me getting to hang around Music City USA and also tour around with Henry Wagons. Henry’s gigs have been great fun so far, I think my favourite was Joe’s Pub in New York which was nothing like any pub I’ve ever been in. This place was more like a theatre with a very expensive bar up the back… lucky for me I didn’t have to pay for too many drinks! There was a great crowd and they loved the show and made us feel very welcome in the big smoke. I’m looking forward to getting back to New York to soak up the atmosphere and sample some more of the great food.

This trip has been very special for me as it was the first time I’ve ever visited a real working record pressing plant. United Record Pressing has been working out of the same building here in Nashville since 1962 and is one of the oldest and biggest in America. I’ve been a vinyl enthusiast all my life (my 4th birthday cake was in the shape of a record player and I got my first working record player for my 5th birthday) so you can imagine how excited I was to get the full tour of the factory. We then spent the afternoon upstairs recording a live EP with Henry and friends that was recorded straight to stereo tape and will then be cut straight to vinyl. This was just too much!

We’ve just done a few shows in Georgia and Florida and now we’re off to SXSW in Austin Texas, then it’s back to Nashville for another month of song writing. Fun fun fun!

x Chris

NEW RINGTONE

‘Silent Treatment’ is now available as a ringtone from the iTunes store.  Search for it on your iPhone.

NASHVILLE SONGWRITING RESIDENCY & SHOWCASE

I’ve been working closely with Mark Moffatt as part of the Nashville Songwriting Residency grant program.  Here we are with Jeff Walker (Aristo Media) and fellow grant recipient Travis Caudle.

Travis and I will be showcasing at a special APRA night at The Mercy Lounge on Tuesday March 26th at 7pm, along with Audrey Auld.

NEW VIDEO: LIVING IT UP

We had to do something with all those album photo outtakes, so we put them to music & lyrics for a new film clip (and I am literally living it up lying around in my underwear!)  

Hey there music lovers, I’m writing to you from the wintery wonderland I now call home. Oh Canada, so beautiful but so cruel and unforgiving… kinda like Australia but upside down. Its been quite a shock to the system, going from 40 degrees down to -20.  Lucky I’ve had access to a hot tub to make the jump in temperature a little bit easier.

I’ve got a couple of gigs coming up before I head down to Nashville, one being in London (Ontario, that is) at East Village Arts Co-Op (more details here) and then a house concert at the Squeaky Hinge in Sarnia. Al and Lori are always gracious hosts so it will be a great way to celebrate my week and a half of Canadian Winter before starting my three months of intensive songwriting down in Nashville.

That’s about it from me for the moment, keep warm or keep cool depending on where you are, and have a great Febuary!

x Chris

GET ‘NOTHING BUT NICE THINGS’

Nothing But Nice Things is out now in Australia on CD and iTunes, and available digitally worldwide.  We’ll be releasing it on vinyl early next year.

Get a copy at your local independent record store:

Basement Discs (Melbourne CBD)

Polyester (Fitzroy, VIC)

Readings (Carlton, VIC)

Greville Records (Prahran, VIC)

Pure Pop Records (St Kilda, VIC)

BUY CD 

BUY FROM ITUNES

BUY FROM BANDCAMP

Hey there music lovers, I hope everyone has had as great a December as I have.  It’s been so good to be back in Melbourne with my old friends.  There’s been some great jam sessions and parties and some fantastic gigs too. There was a Vandas gig earlier this month at the Spotted Mallard in Brunswick and all our old crew was there (some things never change).  Cold Irons Bound opened the show and then The Gung-Hos took over and impressed the heck out of me!

The Vandas will be doing a rare gig at the Grace Emily in Adelaide tomorrow night (Fri 4 Jan).  Hope to see you there!

I would have to say that the highlight of December for me was New Years Eve at Cherry, we had Ian Collard sit in on harmonica and it just worked so well I’m going to have to have him back again next time.  Suzannah Espie did a smoking version of Proud Mary a la Tina Turner and the place went bananas! And after we finished, we even managed to get a maxi cab to take us all back to Mike Hager’s place for more partying.  That made us all very happy!

Best of luck with 2013, see you soon!

x Chris

Return To Canada – One Show Only

Chris will be playing one Canadian show before he heads to Nashville for 3 months to write and record.  You can catch him on Australia Day – January 26th at The Garnet in Peterborough.  We’ll be playing Aussie tunes all night, plus trivia (with prizes!).  Music starts at 9pm

Shop Clearance!

Grab this Mens Large Que Paso navy blue t shirt - last one in stock, ever!

This month is your last chance to get any of the ‘Que Paso’ shirts online, as we’ll be taking them offline and putting any extra stock in the vault for another year.  Check out the Shop here.

Gallery #1 The Vandas @ The Spotted Mallard
Tonedeaf.com.au

Gallery #2 Chris Altmann Album Launch @ The Caravan Music Club
Photos by Tim Chuma

Other Neat Stuff:

• Interview with Chris on HeyHeyMyMy.com.au
• Review of Nothing But Nice Things in The Sydney Morning Herald
• Review of Nothing But Nice Things in The Age
• Watch Chris, Suzannah & Liz rehearse songs at The Barossa Regional Gallery last month
• Nothing But Nice Things one of Brian Wise’s Top 10 Albums of 2012 (RRR Off The Record)

Get Nothing But Nice Things

Nothing But Nice Things is out now in Australia on CD and iTunes, and available digitally worldwide.  We’ll be releasing it on vinyl early next year.

Get a copy at your local independent record store:

Basement Discs (Melbourne CBD)

Polyester (Fitzroy, VIC)

Readings (Carlton, VIC)

Greville Records (Prahran, VIC)

Pure Pop Records (St Kilda, VIC)

BUY CD 

BUY FROM ITUNES

BUY FROM BANDCAMP

Chris Altmann returns to Australia to present his new album, Nothing But Nice Things, a follow up to his 2010 solo debut, Que Paso. Drawing from his recent experience co-writing with some of Nashville’s hottest, the album explores themes like spirituality, love, and people in society, with soulful, piano-driven melodies, sparse guitars, and rich backing vocals grooving to solid drum and bass lines.

Joining him on stage for both shows will be his 10 piece revue-style band, and heaps of special guests.

MELBOURNE LAUNCH SHOWS:

Saturday 1 December @ The Caravan Music Club

A night of country soul, with a few close friends joining Chris and the band to sign some old favourites, including Henry Wagons, Liz Stringer, Van Walker and Ange Boxhall.  Book your ticket online now.  See who else is going: RSVP on Facebook.

Friday 7 December @ The John Curtin Bandroom 

We will be recording the night to release a live album. There will be two shows: 8:30pm and 11:00pm, with a DJ set from 10:00 -11:00pm.  One ticket gets you in to both shows.

The last Melbourne show sold out, so to be sure you don’t miss out, Book your ticket online now.  See who else is going: RSVP on Facebook.

Get ‘Nothing But Nice Things’

Nothing But Nice Things is out today in Australia on CD and iTunes, and available digitally worldwide.  We’ll be releasing it on vinyl early next year.

BUY CD 

BUY FROM ITUNES

3 Tracks from ‘Nothing But Nice Things’

The Vandas Show

It’s been a really long time since the last one, but luckily we managed to squeeze in some time to rehearse with Mikey, Gus & Julien for a one-off Vandas show on December 14th.  Big line up, and just $12 on the door.  RSVP now. 

Other Neat Stuff

• Check out Liz Stringer’s photos from the ‘Sea of Lights’ tour here
• Review of Nothing But Nice Things on Unpaved
• Watch Chris, Suzannah & Liz perform ‘Bluebird Boots’ from the Sea of Lights Tour in WA

Greetings from overcast Melbourne where I am currently in the middle of the ‘Sea of Lights’ tour with Suzannah Espie, Liz Stringer and Grant Cummerford. It has been a blast from start to finish with Perth being the most fun so far, but who knows what will happen over the next couple of weeks, it’s looking promising. In Adelaide I’ll be reunited with my favourite person in the whole wide world (I’ve sang about her before), and then in Mullumbimby I’ll have everything: the beach, my babe, and lots of other things that start with B.

    Cup Eve was a fun night being the launch of Henry Wagons new duets record, and I had the great pleasure of getting to play a couple of songs with him and the ultra cool band in front of a sold out room. Ah how I love Melbourne! Anyway thats enough from me, stay cool and always remember.

Au Revoir!

Chris

SEA OF LIGHTS NSW & SA TOUR DATES

Sat, November 10 – The Royal Exchange, Newcastle, NSW

Sunday, November 11 – Junkyard, Maitland, NSW

Thurs, November 15 – Ararat Live (The Red Room) Ararat VIC

Friday, November 16 – Wheatsheaf Hotel, Thebarton SA

Saturday, November 17 – Candlelight Concert, Barossa Regional Art Gallery, Tanunda SA

November 23 to 25  – Mullum Music Festival

Stream Suzannah Espie’s Sea of Lights album here

ALBUM LAUNCH SHOWS & TRAILER

Chris Altmann returns to Australia to present his new album, Nothing But Nice Things, a follow up to his 2010 solo debut, Que Paso. Drawing from his recent experience co-writing with some of Nashville’s hottest, the album explores themes like spirituality, love, and people in society, with soulful, piano-driven melodies, sparse guitars, and rich backing vocals grooving to solid drum and bass lines.

Joining him on stage for both shows will be his 10 piece revue-style band, and heaps of special guests.

MELBOURNE LAUNCH SHOWS:

Saturday 1 December @ The Caravan Music Club

A night of country soul, with a few close friends joining Chris and the band to sign some old favourites, including Henry Wagons, Liz Stringer, Van Walker + more to be announced.

Book your ticket online now.  See who else is going: RSVP on Facebook.

Friday 7 December @ The John Curtin Bandroom 

We will be recording the night to release a live album. There will be two shows: 8:30pm and 11:00pm, with a DJ set from 10:00 -11:00pm.  One ticket gets you in to both shows.

The last Melbourne show sold out, so to be sure you don’t miss out, Book your ticket online now.  See who else is going: RSVP on Facebook.

I’m very excited to be heading back to Australia for a few months, can’t wait to hit those wonderful Melbourne pubs and catch up with some old friends over a beer or two. It’s been over a year and a half since I left for Canada and the US so I have a lot of people and places that I want to see again.

Two friends that I can’t wait to see are Suzannah Espie and Liz Stringer, who I will promptly be heading out on the road with to help launch Suzannah’s latest album ‘Sea Of Lights’. I know I’ve been talking up this album a lot lately but it really is so good, you have to check it out. We’ll be starting the tour in Darwin of all places, I’ve never been up that far so that’s going to be a really cool thing for me.

My new album is almost finished getting pressed up and will be released in Australia on November 30th. I’ll be launching it in December around Victoria and I’m planning some very special shows to celebrate. Tickets are already on sale for the 1st of Dec at the Caravan Club in Oakleigh, and the 7th of Dec gig at the John Curtain will go on sale soon. This show is being recorded for a live album so don’t miss out, we need a lively loud audience to make it sound really great!

Also, if you want to see some more laid back and intimate shows, I’ll be doing Wednesday nights through November at the Retreat in Brunswick with a few special guests here and there.

Hope everyone is living the dream!

Adios!
Chris

New 7″ Single: “Home & Away”

Chris caught the attention of the Seventh Fire Records team when he recorded his latest album at their studios with engineer James McKenty, and was then invited to play on a number of sessions that McKenty was recording with Blue Rodeo’s Greg Keelor.

Inspired by his globetrotting ways, Chris named the single Home & Away, and it contains the gospel soul influenced A-side, “Walk On (You’re Slowly Heading Home)” and country ballad B-side “I Know It Isn’t Right”.

Get your copy of the vinyl at Seventh Fire Records.

And, as an added bonus to our mailing list subscribers, we’re offering a free download of the A side for the next 3 days.  Download yours now!

Here’s a clip of Chris recording the 7″ single:

Video: “Nothing But Nice Things” Live on Music City Roots

On his last trip to Nashville, Chris was invited to perform on the famous Loveless Barn stage for Music City Roots.  Check out a performance from the show, the title track from the upcoming Nothing But Nice Things album:

‘Sea of Lights’ Tour

Recorded over three 40 degree days in February 2011, Liz Stringer, Chris Altmann and a heavily pregnant Suzannah Espie sat around a couple of microphones in Jeff Lang’s shed and played and sang together. The result is Sea of Lights, Suzannah’s latest full length solo offering, a collection of haunting melodic tales adorned with lush harmonies and exquisitely delicate arrangements.

The Sea of Lights tour starts Saturday 19 October in Humpty Doo, NT.

Join the Official Tour Group Page on Facebook to follow the tour diary, win tickets, giveaways and all the latest tour info.

I know I say this every month but this past month has been very busy indeed. I’ve spent a lot of time in the studio working with James McKenty and Greg Keelor on a few different albums. I’ve been playing pedal steel and piano mostly, with some guitar and bass here and there. It’s been an extremely rewarding experience and I’ll hopefully be doing a lot more work with these lovely gentlemen in the future.

   Alysha and I will once again be heading down to Nashville for the Americana Festival this year. I’ll be doing a few showcase spots and will have the great pleasure of performing at the Loveless Café for the Music City Roots radio program. I’m really looking forward to hanging out with some of my good friends from Melbourne, who will be in town for the festival. Two wonderful worlds collide to make one fantastically fun week and a half!

   My new album, which is called Nothing But Nice Things, is just begging to be let out of the bag… but before that happens, two tracks will be released as a single for the Seventh Fire Record Series. Seventh Fire is a cool new subscription record club that puts out a new 7″ vinyl single every month, and mine will come out early October. Very excited about that!

   Well that’s about enough from me, thanks for checking out what I’ve been up to, and what I’m about to get up to, and keep on smilin’!

Adios!

Chris

‘Sea of Lights’ Tour

Recorded over three 40 degree days in February 2011, Liz Stringer, Chris Altmann and a heavily pregnant Suzannah Espie sat around a couple of microphones in Jeff Lang’s shed and played and sang together. The result is Sea of Lights, Suzannah’s latest full length solo offering, a collection of haunting melodic tales adorned with lush harmonies and exquisitely delicate arrangements.

Now, after Chris has taken up residence in Canada and Suzannah and her daughter have navigated through the first year of her life, the three come together again on the Sea of Lights tour. Together, traveling Australia as one sparkling constellation, these three will recreate the beautiful intimacy of those studio recordings and play the songs of all three of these unique artists.

Join the Official Tour Group Page on Facebook to follow the tour diary, win tickets, giveaways and all the latest tour info.

Preview new song “Walk On (You’re Slowly Heading Home)” on American Songwriter:

Chris was featured as American Songwriter’s Daily Discovery last month.  Click here to read his interview and listen to a song from the new album.

Photo Caption Contest

Click here to post your caption. We’ll be picking the 2 best ones, and they’ll receive an advanced copy of the new album, Nothing But Nice Things:

I’m very happy to tell you that my new record is now recorded, mixed and mastered, and I’m absolutely 100% satisfied with it. I recorded it with a friend of mine by the name of James McKenty, who runs a studio near Buckhorn in Ontario. We finished the whole thing in 7 days, which for those of you who have never made an album before, is a very short time!  But the result is an album that is very focused and under produced, with a very groovy rhythm that you would expect from a singing drummer.

I’ve played some really fun gigs over the last month. I played guitar for Wagons at some festivals in Alberta and Montana, and that was an absolute blast! I just played Tomfest 2012 a couple of days ago which is held on a farm every year just outside of Norwood, and that was the most fun I’ve had in a while. Perfectly spit roasted pork, lots of great players all jamming on each others tunes, and the most gracious host! Can’t wait for next year!

This week I’m back in the studio with James, doing some session work on his latest album, which is being produced by Greg Keelor (Blue Rodeo).

I hope you’re loving life and enjoying all the great music out there at the moment.  I’ll be eager to see what you think of my new record so stay tuned.

Adios!

Chris

photos by Cressida Sanderson

Rockin’ The Dakota

Chris and the band are stoked to be playing Toronto’s premiere roots music venue, The Dakota Tavern for the first time this Friday July 6th.  They’ll be supporting the fabulously fiesty Ginger St James.  Show starts at 10pm.