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August-September 2013 News Archive |
 NPR Tiny Desk Concert |
| The Tiny Desk Concert that Hem recorded in June is now here! It's below, as well as at NPR's site. There's a link on NPR's page to download the audio of Hem performing "Walking Past The Graveyard, Not Breathing," "Tourniquet," and "Seven Angels." You can also click here to see a picture of the 8-piece band performing while crammed around the tiny desk. A permanent link to this performance is at the interview archive, which is a little of a stretch, but Sally does talk some about "Seven Angels" before it's played. The early NPR piece mentioned in the Tiny Desk description is All Songs Considered on July 1, 2002, though a (re)visit to Hem's July 10, 2002 All Things Considered spot is worthwhile too. |
 Seattle Show Photos |
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Here is a lovely collection of pictures of Hem from the band's September 18 show in Seattle (thanks, Kirk!). You can see more awesome photos at Flickr of both Hem and opener Dawn Landes. You can find these and many other show pictures at the tour photos archive. |
| San Francisco Show Photos |
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Click here to see a bunch of pictures from Hem's September 15 show in San Francisco. There are also some at the end of the opening set by Dawn Landes. They're not my finest work, but there's still hope that one of these days I'll pay less attention to the music and more attention to photo-taking. You can find these and many other show pictures at the tour photos archive. |
| Portland Show Video |
| Below is a nice video of the song "Identical Snowflakes" from Hem's September 17 show at the Aladdin Theater in Portland, OR. Stay to the end to hear commentary from the band about the song. |
 Independent's Day Radio Show |
| Click here to stream or download Hem's entire hour-long segment on Independent's Day Radio. In an interview rarity, everybody in the big touring band chats about Hem's music, history, and style. Hem also plays 6 songs live ("Tourniquet," "Walking Past The Graveyard, Not Breathing," "The Seed," "The Jack Pine," "Half Acre," and "So Long"). You can find a permanent link to this show at the interview archive. |
| Seattle Setlist and Video |
| Portland Setlist and Poster |
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Click here to see a couple pictures from Hem's September 17 show at the Aladdin Theater in Portland, Oregon. No pictures of the band, but there are photos of the setlist and show poster. You can find these and many other show pictures at the tour photos archive and the 2013 tour archive. |
| Independent's Day Radio Show |
| Hem is the guest tonight on Independent Day's Radio. There's an interview and in-studio performance from when Hem was in Los Angeles on September 14. You can stream the show at 7:00pm (PDT), or it should be available in a while here. A later news update will have a download link when it's available. |
 Departure And Farewell on Vinyl |
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Hem's latest album, Departure And Farewell, is out on vinyl TODAY! It has been available at this week's west coast shows and is at stores, like Amazon. There is a code inside the package for a free digital download of the album. The art is similar to the CD's art: album cover, sleeve side 1, sleeve side 2. insert art (without the red lines), and label stickers (2 hearts on each side of the record). The vinyl is apparently a limited edition, so get one before it's too late! This is Hem's first release on vinyl, but hopefully it won't be the last. |
| Los Angeles Setlist |
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Click here to see the setlist (as in, a picture of the literal setlist) from Hem's September 14 show at The Troubadour in Los Angeles. I'm told that the songs actually played are just as listed. You can find this and many other show pictures at the tour photos archive and the 2013 tour archive. |
| Los Angeles and San Francisco Setlists |
| New today are the setlists from Hem's show on September 14 in Los Angeles (thank you, Dan!) and on September 15 in San Francisco.
Pictures are coming soon for the San Francisco show, so stay tuned! I
was at that show, and it was delightful. There was a rare (for Hem) call
for audience requests mid-show, which resulted in a last minute
addition of "Pacific Street." Thank you to whoever called for that one!
And thanks to Sally for adding "The Golden Day Is Dying" and to all of
Hem for again being so welcoming and great in ways too lengthy to list
here. |
| Video From Los Angeles Show |
| Here is a clip of Hem playing "He Came To Meet Me" last night at The Trobadour in Los Angeles. |
| Ticket Contests |
| Win tickets to see Hem in San Francisco (Sep. 15) or Portland (Sep. 17)! To enter either contest, you just have to go to the giveaway pages and leave a comment. |
| Hem Studio Information |
At Hem's Facebook page, Gary recently gave some details about Hem's technical setup.
Last time Gary shared something like this, I put it here in the news,
and people commented to me that it was interesting to read. I cannot
find that old post anywhere in the archives,
but I know it's there somewhere! In any event, here's what Gary had to
say this time, and hopefully people will again enjoy hearing something
about how Hem literally makes its music:
"We have tried at least a half dozen different makes, models and
manufacturers for acoustic pickups, and these [sound hole pickups,
pictured in a photo with Gary's comment] are the ones we think sound
best. I actually do use a dual soundboard transducer system on my '69
Gibson Hummingbird (B-Band), but all the other guitars use sound hole
pickups. I think the quality of the acoustic reproduction really depends
on matching the sound of the pickup with the style and sound of the
instrument. For the Gibson jumbos, I play a lot of big chords, at a
pretty good volume, and the contact pickups are just too sensitive.
Steve tends to play a lot of single note melodies — he's a very strong,
loud player — and nothing except the Bagg's pickups have sounded good on
his guitars (a 70's Guild Dreadnought and the little Epiphone). These
pickups produce a dry, sweet sound that really sounds like Steve! I use
the Bagg's on my '85 Gibson Jumbo and the Sunrise model on my 2000
Jumbo. I do use the B-Band unit on the Hummingbird, but I tend to play
more quietly on that guitar (fingerpicking, etc.). Steve and I also both
use the Bagg's Para-Acoustic D/I - EQ Boxes, which are really great
(they have balanced outputs, use phantom power and their EQ is great)
especially for eliminating the frequencies we don't want to hear (Like
1K)! On our albums, we record using only high quality condenser
microphones, and no pickups whatsoever, of course!" |
| Discography Updates |
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I know what the people want, and the people want details about 7-8
year old promotional CDs that are not available anywhere anymore. Newly
added to the discography page are a 2005 Rounder Records sampler that includes Hem's song "Strays," and a 2006 Funnel Cloud instrumentals CD that includes instrumental versions of all of Funnel Cloud's
songs except "The Pills Stopped Working." "Not California" has its
na-na-na vocals, but it and the other tracks are otherwise just music on
the instrumentals CD. |
| Paste Magazine Interview |
| Paste Magazine has a nice new interview with Dan about working on the music for the Broadway adaptation of Amélie.
He talks about writing this new music and also about how it fits with
Hem's music. I've not heard the private demo mentioned in the article
(my email is ALL OVER the place here, demo sharers), but I have heard
bits and pieces of this Amélie music, and it is so delightful I cannot even tell you (except I just did). You can find this interview and many more at the articles archive. |
 Meanings Update |
| The song "Half Asleep" has its first entry on the meanings page as a surprise bonus from the Paste article. Click here to jump right to the new meanings entry. |
| Hem in Northern Ireland |
| Congratulations, Belfast! You have the newest tour date!
Hem will visit Belfast on October 19 at Elwood Hall, Queen's University
as part of the Belfast Festival. Tickets on sale now. You can find more details about this and other upcoming shows on the tour page. |
All About Hem (c) Copyright 2004-2013
This site is fan run and is not affiliated with Hem in any way. You can visit Hem's Official Website
here. You can contact me at Christina@AllAboutHem.com
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