Distracting New Year

Happy New Year to all, and here's to an even more exciting 2015.  Sign up for occasional emails from us here to keep up with the latest Distractions news.  This is the latest email blast:

Distracting News - December 2014

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Parabolically Yours Pledge campaign

After more than four years of intensive work, the Pledge Music campaign for Parabolically Yours, Hidden Masters' huge retrospective of The Distractions' career is now underway. Click here to pledge for all sorts of exciting items. Fuller details are to be found on the Pledge page but, to quote from the Hidden Masters press release:

"The 1st edition is limited to 500 copies worldwide. It is presented in a 12" 100 page hardback book format and includes 1 vinyl LP / 3 x CDs. Editor-at-large is David Quantick with pre-ordering exclusively via www.pledgemusic.com/projects/thedistractions."

The band - including members past and present - are closely involved in finally bringing the back catalogue into the 21st century. 

 Please remove me from this list

In brief

The January 2015 issue of Record Collector mentions the 'Parabolically Yours' Pledge campaign in the 'In Brief' Pledging part of the News section (page 18).  As news gets out and pledging continues, sets will start to run out, so pre-order now.  Remember, pledging by debit or credit card means no money is taken until the target is reached.

The Distractions Hidden Masters: Parabolically Yours 500-copy LP/3CD/100-page hardback is due via PledgeMusic in March and subs include handwritten lyrics, art-work, original flyers.

(c) PledgeMusic.

In progress

The 'Parabolically Yours' campaign is into its second week and a marvellous 35% of the target has already been reached with over 11 weeks to go. Thank you to those who have made this such a great start! If you've not yet pledged, maybe the thought of access to Steve and Mike's heart-string-tugging video updates will convince you?

So, the good news is that you've got plenty of time left to place your order by pledging. The bad news is that some of the options are almost sold out. Package 3 (+ AccessPass) - the 100-page 12" book edition, 3 x CD + 1 x LP, each copy hand-numbered (176/225) PLUS signed & handwritten lyric to It Doesn't Bother Me - has proved to be so popular that only four remain.

Meanwhile, the word is being spread by the Pledge Music team, with The Distractions featuring in their latest mail-out:

The Distractions offer Hidden Masters

The Distractions have announced that they are releasing "Parabolically Yours", a Hidden Masters package that includes three CDs, vinyl and a hardcover book. For much of the band's material this is the first time it has been digitised, and the group has even found some great live recordings to go along with the studio tracks. Pre-orders are available now that also come with digital downloads of the collection and signed artwork. 

3 CDs & re-mastered vinyl

For those of you not signed up to Hidden Masters/Pledge Music updates, here's the details from them on The Distractions' 'Parabolically Yours' campaign, which as of this evening, has already reached 26% of the target with 90 days to go. Thank you for your support!

Hello everyone… 

I thought you’d like to know that our latest HiddenMasters project is now up for pre-ordering on PledgeMusic – it’s a full scale retrospective on The Distractions. 

The Distractions? Ahh yes… Remember them? Of course you do! Theirs was a star that shone briefly above the Manchester skyline back in the late '70s; sharing rehearsal spaces with Joy Division, The Fall and the Buzzcocks. Releasing genuine pop-classics like the much-heralded You’re Not Going Out Dressed Like That EP… Time Goes By So Slow (their second consecutive NME Single of the Week)… Something For The Weekend… It Doesn’t Bother Me… one album on Island (Nobody’s Perfect)… the inevitable acrimonious split… and then… 32 years later, a second album – the 2013 masterpiece, 'The End Of The Pier'. 

This is a HiddenMasters project that’s taken the better part of four years to pull together – none of the band’s pre-millenial work has (save a couple of songs) been digitised before so we’ve gone back to the original analog reels and not only found everything intact but also discovered a myriad of never-before-heard gems along the way… from demos to different mixes to live recordings that only exist on cassette (which have scrubbed up pretty well, by the way). 

All are included on this 500 copies only book-edition… this time around it’s a 100-page hardback that contains a mass of never-before-seen images wrapped around fresh interviews during which the band and those close to them tell their own, inimitable tale. The music – from 1977 to 2013 – is on 3 CDs with the (hard to find nowadays) first album re-mastered and pressed on 180 gsm vinyl. 

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE.

Lastly… next up for us will be the Chris Wood / Evening Blue retrospective. And… a bit further away will be the first-ever full-scale Heads Hands & Feet compendium. 

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and peaceful 2015.

 

Neil. 

Parabolically Yours campaign launched

You can now pre-order 'Parabolically Yours', the definitive Distractions boxset, exclusively via the Pledge Music site.  Thank you for your patience during these last few years (it's been 5 in the making!), but we hope you agree that this has been worth the wait. If you haven't used Pledge before, you simply pledge your order now, and only if and when the target is reached is any money charged.

There are several variants of the 1 LP, 3 CD, 100+ page book (edited by David Quantick) sets to consider (on its own or with extra goodies), with 9 of them strictly limited to 25 each. There is a also a 10-track sampler download, which comes free to all those who order a boxset. Take a look... you can even pre-order a set as a gift. If you need convincing, listen to Mr Perrin (hit the play button on the Pledge site).

During the course of the campaign there will be exclusive updates for pledgers, including streaming of tracks, the 10-track sampler from Mike and Steve, and the actual track-listing will be unveiled too. We will also delve deeper into the packages and boxset here. In the meantime, enjoy the campaign, and feel free to ask questions here, on Facebook, Twitter or on the 'Parabolically Yours' Discussion area.

Countdown continues

HiddenMasters' (and ex-Island Head of Press) Neil Storey has been leaving a few choice details about 'Parabolically Yours' on The Distractions' original Facebook group.  This long-, LONG-awaited set will comprise 1 x LP, 3 x CDs and a 100+ page, 12" hardback book...

News of the ordering process is just around the corner (guess how many days to go), so keep up to date with the latest news at:

• The official site (here!):  http://www.thedistractions.co.uk/home.html.

• Twitter:  https://twitter.com/DistractionsMcr.

• Join the original Facebook fan group:  www.facebook.com/groups/distractions.uk. 

• 'Like' the new Facebook site (in association with Pledge Music):  www.facebook.com/thedistractionsuk.