Harris Tweed (band) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Dear Reader is an alternative/pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

band from Johannesburg

Johannesburg

Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...

, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. The band was founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Cherilyn MacNeil and producer/bass player, Darryl Torr. Dear Reader is now the solo project of Cherilyn MacNeil.

History

In August 2006 MacNeil and Torr released their first album, The Younger, through South African record label, Just Music, under the band name, Harris Tweed. In 2008 they adopted the name Dear Reader, after the Scottish textile company Harris Tweed

Harris Tweed

Harris Tweed is a cloth that has been handwoven by the islanders on the Isles of Harris, Lewis, Uist and Barra in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, using local wool....

asked them to stop using their name.

In 2008 MacNeil and Torr recorded their first album as Dear Reader called, Replace Why with Funny. The album was produced by Brent Knopf, of Menomena

Menomena

Menomena are an indie rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States; currently made up of Justin Harris, Danny Seim and more recently Joe Haege of 31Knots and Tu Fawning...

/Ramona Falls (band)

Ramona Falls (band)

Ramona Falls is an indie rock project founded by Brent Knopf and based in Portland, Oregon. Brent Knopf was also one-third of the band Menomena.-History:The project took shape after Menomena's recording process for their third album was delayed...

. Soon after, they signed a licensing deal with Berlin based indie label, City Slang, and the album was released in February 2009 - in Europe by City Slang, and in South Africa by Just Music.

In 2010 'Replace Why with Funny' won the award for Best English Adult contemporary Album at the South African Music Awards

South African Music Awards

The South African Music Awards are an annual award ceremony, run by the Recording Industry of South Africa , where accolades are presented to members of South Africa's music industry. Winners receive a statuette is called a SAMA. The event was established in 1995...

.

In 2010 MacNeil and Torr amicably parted ways and Cherilyn relocated to Berlin, where she wrote the material for the follow-up Dear Reader album, Idealistic Animals. The album was recorded in Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

and Portland

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

, Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, again with the assistance of Brent Knopf and various other friends and musicians.

Idealistic Animals was released in Germany and South Africa in September 2011 and is scheduled for release in Europe and the UK in November 2011.

Guest Appearances on the album Idealistic Animals

Brent Knopf, Jean-Louise Nel, Martin Wenk (of Calexico), Jacob Lind

Marching Band (band)

Marching Band is a musical duo consisting of Erik Sunbring and Jacob Lind from Linköping, Sweden. Marching Band combines eccentric musical elements with mainstay rock sounds, creating a sonic fusion that finds instrumentation of marimba, banjo and vibraphone meshing with guitars, bass, drums and...

, Erik Sunbring

Marching Band (band)

, Caoimhe McAlister, Fritz, Bernt and Isabel Brueckner, Matt Sheehy, Dave Depper, Mark Shirazi, Sven Michelson, John Askew, Jessica Beer, Christopher Cotter, Jen Dolan, Tamara Harris, Bennet Baily, Thom Fahrbach.

Current Touring Members of Dear Reader

Jean-Louise Nel, Martin Wenk, Jacob Lind

Marching Band (band)

, Erik Sunbring

Marching Band (band)

, Caoimhe McAlister

Previous Live Members

Harris Tweed - Alan Shenton, Darren Leader, Hannah Botsis, Courtenay Faquharson
Dear Reader - Michael Wright, Jean-Louise Nel

Studio albums

The Younger (2006)
Replace Why with Funny (2009)
Idealistic Animals (2011)

Reviews

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.