Suburban Cinema officially released !

4th album Suburban Cinema is now available as a "name your price" download over on Bandcamp. It will be available on CD and cassette in very limited quantities in the coming weeks - more on that soon. Also, there will be a live album launch on November 29 at Red Bar in Sydney. Cheers, Brendan

Suburban Cinema set for October 19 release

Official album release date is set for October 19. Suburban Cinema will be online at all the usual outlets, but most importantly will be available for a "name your price" download over at @Bandcamp . Later in the year there will be an extremely limited edition CD and cassette.

New songs available for free download at bandcamp

"Suburban Cinema" - ALBUM TRAILER #1

Hey ! Here are a few sneak peaks at some finished songs from the 4th album, titled "Suburban Cinema", which should be out around August. Half of the album is completely finished and mastered, while the other half is still being mixed. For this record i have decided to go back to where i started - recording and tracking all of the instruments myself. With there being a break from playing live it just seemed the best way to get another album happening. It's been a challenge but has helped me re-connect with why i started making music in the first place. Am looking forward to releasing a couple of songs in the coming weeks and eventually sharing the album in August. All of the music was recorded at home, but i wouldn't call it particularly lo-fi. The first tracks, some of which you can hear in the trailer below, seem to hark back to the feel of my first album - though that wasn't really a conscious decision. Anyway, have a listen ! Cheers, Brendan.

New single "Around The World" released Feb 3

You can now stream or download new single "Around The World" on the internet ! Check out your usual sources of music and it will be there. Here is the track on Bandcamp :



  This song is the first released from an up coming album that i'm recording entirely on my own at home. Most of the songs have been written but they're in varying stages of completion. I'd expect to be finished by April/May and look forward to releasing it not long after. Cheers Brendan

New single 'Around The World" is due late January

Here's the artwork for a new song that'll be out by the end of January - more information soon !

New video for Backwards Down The Highway

Here's a new clip from in house director HW Wheelie - it combines scenes from Wim Wenders classic road movie Paris,Texas with the title track off our album.

Upcoming Shows

Hey - in case you haven't heard, we are appearing in these locations :

Saturday Nov 23 Melbourne - The Public Bar
Saturday Nov 30 Canberra - The Phoenix
Saturday Dec 7 Sydney - FBI Social

Most likely our last shows for the year, so if you are in these places then please come out to see us !
Here's some kind words from 4ZZZ in Brisbane & 2SER in Sydney for our album :

"The Model School: Backwards Down The Highway (Packaged Light)
- A new full-length of dusty but heart-warming country rock from the Sydney band. Sort of like Wilco if they hadn’t changed. There’s something right and upstanding about staying the same, The Model School know it, and they’re doing it. (Chris Cobcroft,4ZZZ)"

"Blue Mountains resident Brendan Wixted must make quite a few journeys by car from way out west. His other vehicle - for his songwriting - has always been ripe with low-key melodic pop craft that slowly win you over with repeat listening. As The Model School, Wixted is back with his most freewheeling work yet, with a set full of classic, ringing guitars part cosmic part country that'll do great for any evocative, sweet and rockin' road trip. (Andrew Khedoori,2SER)"

And have a read of our "Citizenship Test" on Mess & Noise over here :

Citizenship:The Model School

Cheers!
The Model School

Some reviews for Backwards Down The Highway

Thought we'd share some recent reviews for our album - here's a few :

 "Breezy guitars, violins and rumbling countrified rock puts the air in your hair and your elbow out the window. 8/10"
 http://www.tonedeaf.com.au/reviews/new-music/356621/backwards-down-the-highway.htm

"The Streets I Left Behind’ is a soulful and nostalgic triumph .... Reminiscent of Springsteen at his heart tugging best, minus the sax...This is guitar pop in its purest and finest form, and just one track off an excellent album." http://aussieplaylist.com/?p=3809

 "This album can only receive praise and good graces."
 http://www.undercover.fm/reviews/17791-the-model-school-backwards-down-the-highway

 Lastly - here's our new instagram account which at this point serves as a visual companion to the album, featuring lots of pics from the 2010 roadtrip that served as the influence for the songs on the record.
 http://instagram.com/themodelschool#

See you at a show soon - gigs in Melbourne,Canberra and Sydney to be announced next week !
cheers Brendan

Coming up - LIVE : SEP 28 with Davey Lane & OCT 12 ALBUM LAUNCH !

Album released !

Hey there!

As you may have heard - our album "Backwards Down The Highway" has now been released - its available at iTunes as well as our very own bandcamp page, and a myriad of other places. To the right of this post you can hear the album via the bandcamp player.

Some other features we've added are twitter and facebook widgets so you can click straight through to see what we are up to there. The good times continue with direct links to our last 4 videos ... everything TMS related is now all here in one handy place !

We'll be posting a lot more here in the coming weeks leading up to our album launch on Oct 12 at Oxford Art Factory.
Til then !
Brendan

Soundcloud Streamin

THE ENTIRE ALBUM IS NOW STREAMING HERE :  

https://soundcloud.com/themodelschool/sets/backwards-down-the-highway

AND HERE :

http://themodelschool.bandcamp.com/

ENJOY !

OFFICIAL RELEASE IS SEPTEMBER 20 !

Backwards Down The Highway - September 20

Here's our record cover !

We're playing some shows in the weeks ahead :

Sep 6 - The Basement (charity event)
Sep 28 - Spectrum (supporting Davey Lane)
Oct 12 - Oxford Art Factory (Gallery Bar) - ALBUM LAUNCH !











Also - here's a fuzzy screen grab from our new clip which will be out this week :

See you soon !!!

Tracks now streaming on Earbits Radio

Hey, Just a heads up to let you know you can listen to us on Earbits Free Online Radio :


Earbits Free Online Radio

We're streaming 3 songs from our album which is due out on Sep 20, 2013 !!
cheers
Brendan/The Model School

New album - "Backwards Down The Highway" - set for September release !

Thats right - we've finally got a tentative release month locked in, just finalising the actual date. Album launch will be Oct 12 at Oxford Art Factory. We've also got a coupla gigs coming up : Friday Aug 9 (Oxford Art Factory) Sunday Aug 11 (Union Hotel Newtown) Be there!!!

New track Purple AM Radio available now !

Purple AM Radio by The Model School

Free download of the track is over here at bandcamp :

http://themodelschool.bandcamp.com/

LP due soon - probably mid-Winter !!

cheers
The Model School

Last day of recording ...

So - we've completed our last day or recording our album at Linear studio's in Sydney tracking the last 2 songs for our record. As usual it was a great experience being in the studio recording these songs we've laboured over for quite a while now. Our engineer Wade Keighran kept the ship on course as usual - though there were some choppy waters to be encountered ... not sure why i'm using watery metaphors - as this album is definitely all about the road ... the highways and the low roads and everything in between. Wade has recorded, mixed and produced some fine acts over the years and has just finished work on Wolf & Cub's album too (where he also plays bass amongst other things)... he's a music lover and always gets the best out of us when we're working with him, so thanks a million Wade!

The record is almost finished (!) - some home overdubs to wrap up and then it's off to mixing with Linear studio boss Chris Vallejo, who is casting his expert ears over the mixes and has done a great job so far on the singles we've released. The whole deal has taken a little longer than expected but its because we really want the album to work from start to finish - so some tunes have fallen by the way side over the past year ... i'm sure they'll surface as bonus tracks or something ...

We're still throwing around ideas for the release - and are seriously considering bypassing CD in favour of Vinyl (with download codes) and Digital. The record is 10 songs long, about 37 minutes and we really think the analog sounds and widescreen nature of the tracks will go great on an LP. Though, being that vinyl takes ages to press it could push the release back to Winter 2013 ... we'll see. Whatever happens there'll be a track or two out there in May - thats a guarantee !!

Thats all for now - here's the album trailer HW Wheelie (our resident filmaker & budding auteur) made last week ... check it out on Youtube:

cheers & hang in there !
Brendan/The Model School

2nd clip for Pictures of Summer ...

Wow - our resident clip-maker HW Wheelie has really excelled himself this time. Sourcing some of the best 70's BMX footage he could lay his hands on this clip pays homage to the elite sportsmen who devoted their lives to the noble sport of BMX. They took risks - rode bikes on the roof .. jumped into water ... and wore lots of spandex. Sit back and enjoy !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc4n0x5hA6A

State of the Union ...

Hey !

We're still working on our album - Backwards Down The Highway - and hope to have it finished and pressed up real soon... it sure has been a long journey ! We're deep into side 2 now, working out how to best render the remaining tracks which appear to be a bit sparser and less "pop" than the singles we released last year. What started out as a fairly nice highway with 8 lanes is turning into a winding back road with very few street lights ...

Here's a link to an interview from last year :

http://www.indiekeepscrolling.com/2012/12/interview-model-school.html

And a big thanks to these pages for mentioning our video :

http://www.dresscirclesounds.com/2012/12/update-new-tune-from-model-school.html

http://thelibrarybag.com/?p=2410

So - hang in there folks - the end of the road (on this album!) is nigh .. can't wait to release this record and have it all out there. Still pondering pressing up an LP ... the album is begging for it really ... 10 tracks, 5 each side ... a big open road vibe that would suit some super-size vinyl LP artwork ... we shall see.

cheers
Brendan

Pictures of Summer - video

Here's a clip for our latest single Pictures of Summer - made by indie film-maker Alex Munt over the course of a day spent with a bunch of teenagers.