Past Dream Academy News

23 MAY 99: According to Kristen at SpinTheBottle, the Pop-Up video 
for "Life in a Northern Town" is complete and will be part of Show #902 
which unfortunately is sub-titled, "One Hit Wonders". It's a little 
disappointing that DA is categorized as a OHW. First of all, "The Love 
Parade" charted for 3 weeks in the Top 40 (US), so I don't think OHW 
technically applies anyway. Second...the tag "One Hit Wonder" suggests 
that the artist in question was only capable of creating one good song. 
This is very obviously not the case here, and should be fairly obvious
to anyone who listens to any DA album.

That said, Pop-Up video Show #902 is scheduled to air on Friday, 
May 28th at 8:30PM (EST I think). As always, check your local 
listings just to be sure. (thanks Chris!)

14 MAY 99: If you are looking for either the first or second Dream Academy
CDs, now is a good time to pick them up from CD Now as they are running 
a $10 coupon through May 17 if you follow this link.

4 MAY 99: Tonight's episode of "King of the Hill" used "Life in a 
Northern Town" during a great sequence where Luann trampolines
with the angel of her old boyfriend Buckley. It also got a reprise at the end.

In other news, it looks like the first official single from
Trashmonk will be "Polygamy" and will feature two non-album
b-sides. Creation's Trashmonk site also has an electronic
press kit available for download and now has lyrics for each
track.

It looks like "Life in a Northern Town" is finally getting the
Pop-Up Video treatment.

And Tim Kirk reported that Esprit Records is listing a Dream Academy
Best Of compilation for a late June release (it's about time!) No
word yet on whether it will contain any b-sides.

21 MAR 99: Trashmonk's new album was released last week. Looks 
like it is receiving plenty of great reviews. Check out the News 
section on Creation's Trashmonk site.

2 MAR 99: Creation Records has set up a Trashmonk site with
samples of every track, a bio, and a forum (message board).
Lyrics for each track will be posted there soon.

This makes my own Trashmonk page somewhat redundant now, 
but it does have links to the UnCut interview and the raw scanned
bio, and there will likely be a few tidbits in the future that may
not be on the official site, so it's still worth the occasional visit.

10 FEB 99: Well, the Dream Academy segment on "Where Are They
Now?" was short but well done. It was great to see Nick
again and here about his travels and the new Trashmonk album.
And I now have heard from all three members that they are all
interested in doing another Dream Academy project at some point
so it's just a matter of time.

9 FEB 99: A reminder that tonight is the night for VH1's "Where
Are They Now?" featuring The Dream Academy segment.

Also, I have put together a Trashmonk page, with links to the
UNCUT interview, photos from UNCUT, and a sample edit of the
track "Girl I Used 2 Know" in RealAudio G2 format.

3 FEB 99: According to Will at VH1, the "Where Are They Now" ep.
featuring The Dream Academy is finished and due to air this
Tuesday, Feb. 9th at 10pm East and West Coast time and then 
again the following night at 8pm. Check your listings just to be
sure. The Dream Academy segment is just a couple minutes, but
it sounds like Will crammed a lot of info into those minutes :-)

2 FEB 99: Got a nice e-mail from Gilbert Gabriel...it's really nice
to hear from him and find out what he's up to:

Hi Brent, This is Gilbert, the keys. Concept guy of 
the Dream Academy...I liked your page...I am bringing out another 
single on Blanco y Negro in May or June.....Rachel Ayres is singing 
on it...the buzz is good. I have been doing some film music and 
studying for an MA in Film......if you want to keep in touch that 
would be great. All the best, Gilbert
...oh and thanks to everyone that loves our music ...thats really
cool...p.s I love "Holes" by Mercury Rev...we touched on that vibe in the
80's with heaven....for anyone that is interested it's the first chords of
'julia' by John Lennon... bye for now ...good luck with retrieving the
page...let me know about any groovy vibes on the net or Cd.....

25 JAN 99: News abounds regarding Nick Laird-Clowes forthcoming
project: Trashmonk. The first single "Girl I Used to Know" is
already available in the UK as a free pack-in with the magazine
Uncut. The single is due for commercial release January 25. 
Looks like Siren CD will be stocking it. The subsequent album 
has been delayed slightly to March. Hope to have a sample soon.

5 JAN 99: I spoke with Will from VH1 again. First the bad news:
it sounds like Nick's forthcoming "Trashmonk" album has slipped
to April. The silver-lining being that the April date is now
"very firm"...it likely will not slip again. Will said he heard the 
entire Trashmonk album when Nick was in town and it is fabulous! 
Work is proceeding on the Dream Academy "Where Are They Now" 
segment. I believe it is still slated to air in February. Although the
segment will only be a few minutes long, Will said he would send
me copies of the uneditted interview tapes, which I will most
likely post on the site (assuming I have permission to do so). 

21 NOVEMBER 98: I traded messages with Will of VH1. Will said 
he had lunch with Nick yesterday and has a lot of interesting 
news to relay. I'll be phoning Will on Monday. It sounds like they 
will be interviewing Nick next week and it is fairly certain that 
The Dream Academy will be featured in an upcoming "Where Are They Now" 
special...possibly to air in February. More info to follow in a few days.

6 JULY 98: As many of you know, the Dario G song Sunchyme has now
been released in the US as a 6-track CD single. The dance song is built
around the chant from "Life in a Northern Town". A new US release 
from Dario G is due next week called Sunmachine. I believe this 
is a full album, but I doubt it will feature any more Dream Academy 
samples...I believe one of the tracks will feature a David Bowie sample.

11 JUNE 98: The index for the Message Board has been rebuilt. That will
teach me to backup on a regular basis.

19 APRIL 98: Chris Hammond relayed some info from Nigel Postill regarding an
alternate video for Life in a Northern Town. Here is Nigel's description:
(Alternate) begins with members of a Salvation Army band, following kids
holding green and purple balloons, walking down a steep grassy hillside
above a railway line with a northern English industrial town beyond.  Then
views of Nick walking down a wet, cobbled street in the town through
washing hung out across the street.  At the first chorus, it cuts to Kate
and Gilbert waving their hands round in front of the SA band, with flowers,
etc. superimposed in the top half of the screen.  View of church, more
views of Nick walking, a kid (with ballons) on a "bouncer ball" bouncing
down the street, similar chorus shots as before with Kate playing clarinet
(?) and superimposed SA band etc. views on upper part of screen and more
cutting between views of the town and DA members.  It ends with the SA band
walking across a stone bridge.

18 FEB 98: I recently had a chance to chat with Kate St. John via
e-mail. Most of the questions I asked had to do with her time
in The Dream Academy. I hope you find her answers as interesting
and enlightening as I did. Thanks again Kate!

2 FEB 98: Hi, and welcome to the first update of the new year.
The 1997 What's New entries have been moved to their own page to free 
up space here. Lots of stuff to report...

Nick saw the site! AScottVilliers relayed this message:
  Am absolutely mindblown by your attention to detail. All accurate. Planning
  to go on-line in Feb. Am putting the finishing touches to the new LP at the
  moment to be released by Creation Records hopefully in the summer under 
  the moniker Trashmonk. Look forward to communing with you all soon.
  Happy New Year.
  Nick Laird-Clowes

and Kate St. John just dropped me a nice note as well. She writes:
  I just happened upon your unbelievably detailed Dream Academy web site 
  just now, incredible. I didn't have time to look at it properly but I'll check it
  later to see if there are any questions I can answer. By the way, we did do
  Top of the Pops, can't remember when, but John Peel was the DJ and people
  waved daffodils.
  All the best
  Kate St. John

Kate's new album "Second Site" is out in the States on the Thirsty Ear label 
and on All Saints in England. You can preview some of the tracks at CDNOW 
or CDUniverse. The album is also reviewed in a recent issue Salon Magazine of .

Kirk Ferguson relayed some info from a friend who knows someone at 
Creation Records...the Trashmonk album is complete and should be out
in around 3 months. Also there is a tentatively schedueled gig with 
Nick Heyward and Trashmonk in Glasgow on June 16th.

Alfred Haymond pointed out that the song "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime"
from "Remembrance Days" was actually a cover. The orginal was done by 
The Korgi's. Although, I have never heard it, their version was a hit  
in several parts of the world.

Workkit wrote: Maybe I was dreaming, but the Dream Academy came  
to Atlanta when I was there, right after the release of their first album,  
and played in a small club called '688'. Talk about awesome.



 

return to A Dream Academy Discography