Moving to Wordpress

Hello lovers,
this will be my final post at this address. Thank you for reading and staying with me thus far. I hope we can continue to talk and travel together.

A Casual End Mile will now be blogging at:http://acasualendmile.wordpress.com/

Please come and visit there! It will be much better, because I'll be able to share with you unreleased demos, covers and old songs I record (without the mediafire middleman).

Don't forget you can also visit A Casual End Mile on facebook for the most current news.

Download a free digital copy the Fox & A Prayer/Vampire Hours 7" or purchase a limited
edition vinyl copy at: www.acasualendmile.bandcamp.com

Write me soon,
love Madelaine
x

Band Camp

Thank you to everyone who was there last Wednesday to help launch the first single.
For anyone who missed out on the night, vinyl 7"s are now for sale at Cream on King (Newtown, Sydney). For those outside of Sydney, you can also purchase a copy from:

www.acasualendmile.bandcamp.com
Includes free digital download from the site above.

Read more: http://www.myspace.com/madelainelucas/blog#ixzz10tu5LPnd

Two Sleeps

Only two more sleeps until the 7" launch! Getting a sweet little playlist together to share with those who make it down to Low nice and early for a drink or two....






Doors at 8 pm, playing for you at 9.30 pm
Come along early for good tunes and the best drinks in town
x

7" Single Launch this September!

Come down to the beautiful space of Low 302 to help celebrate the launch of my very first release. The limited edition Fox & A Prayer/Vampire Hours 7" vinyl will be yours to own on the night! I'll also be playing with a brand new line-up....
x

It Walks Like Love

On Thursday night I will have the pleasure of opening at the belated launch of the latest record by Australian bluesy super-songstress Loene Carmen, It Walks Like Love.

For those unfamiliar with Loene's music, it is well worth discovering. Over the years, Loene has worked and collaborated with members of the Dirty Three, Tex Perkins, the Mess Hall, Holy Soul and the Scare to name a few, and her music provides an example of Australian song-writing at it's sultry, dusty, unique best.

The clip below for "Nashville High" (one of my favourite songs) comes from Loene Carmen's previous record Rock n' Roll Tears. You can also listen to tracks from the new album here.
It is real honour to be joining Loene for the launch.



Thursday will also mark the first A Casual End Mile show featuring live drums.

It Walks Like Love album launch will be held at the Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills, 8 pm
Tickets are $12 and will be available at the door. The night will also feature support from
Ed Clayton Jones - Chord Blood.

How Sad, How Lovely

Robert Forster recently wrote an article titled 'Lost Women Found' about the 'forgotten' folk music of Vashti Bunyan, Sibylle Baier and Connie Converse. These women wrote original, beautiful, honest music between the 1950s-1970s, but although largely ahead of their time, enjoyed little initial commercial success. However, recent years have seen a re-release of Bunyan's Diamond Day (2000), and first pressings of Baier's Colour Green (2006; compiled of songs recorded in the 1970s) and Converse's How Sad, How Lovely (2009; from tape recordings made in the 1950s).

Although belated, these albums have received deserved acclaim from various musicians (Bunyan recently worked with Devendra Banhart, and the Animal Collective) and music-critics. For this reason, it seems that their songs weren't 'forgotten'- it's just that their influence has too often has been misplaced, or gone unrecognised.

While I love to listen to Vashti Bunyan and Sibylle Baier, the music of Connie Converse was a new discovery to me. WNYC radio program Spinning on Air put together a wonderful special on her music last year which you can listen to here. Its full of nolstolgia, for forgotten old times.

The music, and mysterious lives of Vashti Bunyan, Sibylle Baier and Connie Converse could be the subject of numerous music or critical essays..... but their own words and voices will always tell their stories much better. Thus, my humble homage:

Fox & A Prayer/Vampire Hours 7" this August!

I am very excited to announce that in late August, Fox & A Prayer and Vampire Hours will be yours to own on vinyl! This special, limited edition 7" will be the very first release by A Casual End Mile. To celebrate, both songs are now available for free download here.

"Fox & A Prayer" was produced by Steve Lucas, and recorded at Bakehouse Studios in Melbourne at the end of winter 2009. "Vampire Hours" was recorded on Valentine's Day this year in the sunny studio paradise which is BJB Studios, in Sydney, and features Brock Fitzgerald (The Scare) on drums & bass.

Special thanks to my mother, Amanda Meares, for lending her original painting to the cause.

Many thanks to everyone who has listened thus far. I hope you will come and party at the launch with me (details tba.)

x

The Shortlist #2 "Vampire Hours"

Another clip, live at the Shortlist Cafe thanks to Our New Empire (O.N.E)

Our New Empire w/ A Casual End Mile #2 from Our New Empire on Vimeo.

Ps you should also check the O.N.E video of Sooner's new single "Horses Run Out". It's a special acoustic version filmed live in their rehearsal space.

The Shortlist #1 Fox & a Prayer

On Wednesday afternoon, post-radio interview and post-Spanish exam, I agreed to sing for the kind folk of Our New Empire. We filmed in the picteresque Darlington cafe, the Shortlist. Here is footage from that chilly afternoon, of singing 'Fox and a Prayer' & nearly freezing my fingers off.

Our New Empire w/ A Casual End Mile from OurNew Empire on Vimeo.

Bread & Water

In the early '90s, my father Steve Lucas recorded an acoustic, country-esque album titled "Bread and Water". Below, you can download my bedroom-recording cover of the title track. You can also stream the original record in it's entirety by clicking the link above.
I hope you enjoy listening, on this rainy Sunday morning.
Special thanks to Rob Irish for recording this for me, so you can all actually hear it properly. x

download

Sibylle Baier

When I discovered the music of Sibylle Baier for the first time, I felt like I had found a real treasure. Perfect, warm music for the wintertime. x

Hell and High Water

On Thursday I returned to BJB Studios in Surry Hills, to record a special version of "Hell & High Water". I stole the piano skills of Luke Bacon to take with me. This session was kind of a prelude to the three days I am planning to record there in June, which I am equally excited and nervous about, so please cross your fingers for me. I am currently working on collecting a few special guests to help out, and am very lucky to have the super engineering & producing skills of Chris Townend behind the session.

I wrote "Hell & High Water" when I was 17, on a rusty banjo. It was recorded on garageband, and featured sythesised strings. Some of you may have heard the song for the first time live, in it's piano form on the night of the Low show. Those who didn't can either anticipate and imagine this new version as a mystery, or download a live recording (thanks to the trusty iphone) from that evening here.... one day I may even unearth the original...

x

Avey Tare & Kria Brekkan

I have a secret love for duets.
This version of the Small Faces "I've Got Mine" by Avey Tare & Kria Brekkan shows how the good ol' "husband & wife duet" genre can live on in the modern world as something special, interesting and barely cliche. Though it is definitely a little stranger than Johnny and June would have done it....

Slurry Hillz.

Hey hipsters,
I'll be playing mañana por la mañana at Surry Hills Festival, Ward Park stage at 10.45.
Time Out Sydney says it's the Number 1 thing to do this weekend, so come down and get amongst the cool kids.
There is a map here, so come and find me.. bright and early, tomorrow morning!
x

Up in lights.

Thanks to everyone who still managed to come down to the Gallery Bar last night, despite the sudden change in playing times. You witnessed what was probably the shortest/earliest evening headline slot in musical history. x

Oxford Arts Gallery Bar.. Once More with Feeling

As part of my little autumn tour, I will be "headlining" the Gallery Bar this coming Thursday evening.
For everyone who has been to a show at the Gallery Bar, you know how special these evening can be. For anyone who hasn't, now is the chance!

It will be a late one, for all you late-running night owls.
Playing 10 pm.
And as I said, I don't want your money, just your love. (ie. IT'S FREE!) So come and get foxy with me.

Supported by Cigany, which apparently translates to something like "dirty gypsy".. so perhaps you should get there a little early!

x

"Put the bark in the dog and you've got a guardian."

Months and months ago I did an interview for an online music magazine thing called Bark (so the Pavement quote title of this entry is not completely irrelevant.)
If you like, you can read it here. You have to scroll down a bit, but there are pictures and stuff too!
x
ps Happy Easter! I'll be singing on the new stage at World Bar for Chamber Music tomorrow evening. It's free so come along!

Heart of Chambers

This Sunday, I will be singing at World Bar's new Sunday evening showcase, Chamber Music.
The poster says it all! Oh, except that it will be Easter Sunday, so you should all come to the show and eat easter eggs with me. The whole thing shall be delicious.
x

Getting Low & getting high

dearly beloved,
many thanks to everyone who came and "got Low" last night. It was just like a dream come true, playing to such a lovely crowd, in that beautiful bar. It also marked the very first time I was ever 1. heckled 2. begged for an encore and 3. brought someone to tears (all by the same darling...)

Thank you also to Luke Bacon for accompanying me on piano and making the night so special. Luke and I have been colloborating on and off for almost a year, but last night was the first time we finally got our act together to play in front of an audience. We played were an old song of mine, called "Hell & High Water" (which I wrote when I was 17, on a banjo, and then forgot how to play) and our version of "Winter Skin". With any luck, I will get some recordings of these versions soon, for those who missed out.

Into the Flames

For the first time in months, I have a new little demo, recorded in a bedroom, for your listening pleasure. "Into the flames" can be heard at www.myspace.com/madelainelucas

Fire metaphors for all. x

I fell for you

Into the flames

Now I feel the fire

In my veins

There can be no cure now

so here I'll stay

though I may burn

I still will linger

Caught in the light

you tend and tame

Now I'm at the mercy

of fire and flame

Still that ol' fear

coming 'round again

I'm haunted still

with wild ways

I fell for you

Into the flames

Now I feel the fire

Of love

in my veins

Here by the hearth

I will hang

my heart.

The Basement was a garden of strange delights.

Thank you to all who made it along to the Basement on Friday night - it was a pleasure to sing to all of you. Congratulations to Desire the Horse who launched their Ep "The River" - it was a beautiful evening, the room was filled with fans and flowers (and posters of old blues musicians) as far as the eye could see. The evidence can be found below:

("Advantages of a Bandroom" by a special friend of J & the Owls)

("Looks Just Like the Sun" by a special friend of Desire the Horse)


The following photos were taken by Nigel Dawes (http://www.pixelpimp.com.au © Copyright 2010)

In the Autumn.

Remember those winter days last year, and through the spring, where A Casual End Mile appeared at little shows around Sydney on an almost-weekly basis?
Come April, I am going to mildly relive these glory days and do a bunch of shows. Each one will be special.

Dates for April:

4th Radio Social @ World Bar
8th Headline show at Oxford Arts Gallery Bar
10th Surry Hills Festival

They are all free! And don't forget the 28th of March at Low 302.
The days may be getting colder, but I am all too ready to warm your hearts again. The winter days will be yours & mine.
x

Get Low

Low 302
March 28th
8 pm
Free entry!

As I promised a few weeks ago, we can now FINALLY all sip incredible cocktails in that red-curtained room and pretend we are in a David Lynch film. So come all ye femme fatales and mysterious men, and let me serende you on a Sunday evening.
Low 302 is a bar like no other.

PAVEMENT

About a year ago I was on a road trip, playing that game where you go through all the bands living/dead/disbanded that you would wish to travel through time to see.
Top on my list was Pavement in the '90s. I was always so jealous that my big brother saw them in their prime, 1995, on the Crooked Rain tour. I was five years old at this time.

HOWEVER
the magical dream I never expected to happen is about to come true! It may not be the '90s anymore.. but I can still dress like Johnny Depp-era Wynona Ryder and stomp down to the Enmore theatre tonight to see Pavement live in the flesh! Yeah!

Horses, Foxes, Owls & Wolves...

...Appearing at the Basement on March 19th for the special launch of "The River" Ep by Desire the Horse! I'll be lending my support, along with Jack Cowell & the Owls.
Songs of love, woe and animal metaphors enough for all, so come along for a hot dinner date!



$15 + booking fee. Tickets available on Moshtix.
x

Judas.

Last night at Ruby Rabbit A Casual End Mile played an electric set for the first time. And yes, someone (not naming names) actually yelled out "Judas".
When my acoustic Matan left me high and dry at the last possible second, I took a beautiful Gibson in my shaky hands and hoped for the best.

Thank you to everyone who came along to the show, apologies for everything running oh so late and after all our bedtimes. I hope you managed to enjoy the set.. even if it was a little different.

(Photographic evidence by Rosie Greenaway Short.)

Karen Dalton

Perfect for rainy weather, Karen Dalton sings the blues like no other.

Be My Valentine?

Valentine's Day marks the one year anniversary of A Casual End Mile existsing outside of dreams and bedrooms. This year, I have a hot date.. with BJB Studios.
That's right, I will be channelling all of my lovin' into new recordings of some of the songs that bloomed throughout the past year.

Cross your fingers, say a little prayer for me & stay tuned.
With any luck, exciting things could be on the horizon.

Happy Anniversary, lovers.

xx

Follow the Ruby Rabbit

Come along to Rumours at Ruby Rabbit on February 19th! It's my first show in about a month and I'm really excited to play for all of you again. There might even be new songs/sounds if you haven't stopped by a show in a while.
We can party afterwards, together with:

Sooners
Paper Moon
Desire the Horse
JuliaWhy?

Hope to see you there!
x

for the love of wolves and foxes.

A little while ago, through some twists of fate (or myspace), I was drawn to the music of Desire the Horse. And here I found a friend and fellow garage-band-loving, bedroom-recording compatriot.
It turned out that Holly (the lady behind the Horse) and myself had many stories to share with one another (she has a thing for wolves, and I have a thing for foxes, to begin with.)

This week Desire the Horse is Fbi's Unsigned Artist of the Week! The songs are sweet and raw, strange and truthful. Have a listen, and keep an eye out for her arrival in Sydney.
x