Some Velvet Morning (band)
Across these four album releases, they have continued to build a series of film and TV placements for their music with brands including Renault, Volkswagen, Haig Club, Pull & Bear and The Grand Tour.
The band, named after the song Some Velvet Morning by Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood, was formed as a result of a chance meeting between Rob Flanagan (formerly part of an early lineup for the 22-20s) and Desmond Lambert in Denmark Street – London’s historic equivalent of Tin Pan Alley.
Lambert brought in his brother Gavin on bass, whilst Flanagan later asked a recent acquaintance, Yann McCullough to join on keyboards.
Combining this genre with their older soul/rock based originals, the band came to the attention of manager Vicki Wickham and Nona Hendryx, formerly of Labelle.
A tour of the east coast of America followed with the release of Silence Will Kill You in October 2007, supported by a TV debut appearance on Fox 5’s Fearless Music show.
The exposure led to further interest from Jimmy Mikaoui & Paul Rene Albertini at a new Anglo-French crowdfunding label called My Major Company.
With Desmond Lambert’s rising experience as a producer, the band spent 2011 working on material and recording in London and Brighton for the Allies album, in between UK festival appearances.
2012 saw the international release of Allies, which the band extensively toured into 2013, with live performances across Europe and particularly in France, where My Major Company secured healthy radio exposure for the single How To Start A Revolution.
A physical EP Musical Chairs (with the first three singles plus a bonus track) was released to coincide with the band’s London Roundhouse appearance in March.
Due to the band’s success with How To Start A Revolution being placed in a pan European advertisement for Renault, Some Velvet Morning were booked by the Transformation Trust to appear at Wembley Arena in the summer of 2017 with The Vamps.
With the basic tracks already recorded in London, the album was completed in Westport, Eire and saw a reunion with Rik Simpson as Executive Producer.
Some Velvet Morning were signed in 2005 to Rhythmbank Entertainment, founded by music manager Vicki Wickham and Nona Hendryx, formerly of Labelle.
Producer Mike Pelanconi (aka Prince Fatty) was also engaged to work on three tracks “Stolen Love Song”, “The Madness Of Crowds” and the unreleased “Fuel Crisis”, the latter of which was the band’s regular stage opener in this era.
Lambert took over production duties for the album’s remaining numbers – the singles “Settle Down” and “Propaganda”, as well as another unreleased recording – “Shine Some Light”.
The band recorded three of the album tracks live for the BBC Radio 2 on the Janice Long show (“Losing My Mind”, “One Day You'll Love The Things You Hate” and “Propaganda”).
To support the album, Some Velvet Morning toured the East Coast of America in the autumn of 2007, performing on Fox 5’s “Fearless Music” TV show (“Losing My Mind” was broadcast although other titles were taped).
The album’s title was taken from a song called “Silence Will Kill You” which was performed live and proposed as the band’s follow up single to “Losing My Mind”, but was not recorded.
The project began life as crowdfunding venture with Anglo-French label My Major Company, run in the UK by Jimmy Mikaoui and Paul Rene Albertini.
A video for the single was filmed in Thailand with a female boxing theme, preceding the band’s live appearance at the “Heavyweight Rock The Ring” festival.
The first three singles, issued between Jan and Mar 2016 were compiled on a limited edition CD EP also called ‘Musical Chairs’, featuring similar artwork to the album.
The use of “The Disappeared” in the Grand Tour (with "Losing My Mind" from the band's first album) and an Asian commercial for David Beckham’s Haig Club Whisky, prompted the release of this track as a fourth single in April 2016.
Additional Musicians: Paul Jones (Harmonica) * Kele Le Roc (Backing Vocals) ** Chris Stopa + Whilst on holiday in Westport, Eire, an unintentional lockdown residency for Desmond & Gavin Lambert led to the completion of Some Velvet Morning’s fourth album, ‘Rough Seas’.
The Lambert brothers were able to hire the local Clew Bay Recording Studio and have their instruments shipped over from the UK to complete overdubs on the unfinished masters.
Two additional songs from the album, “Ghosts” and “Rough Seas”, feature in a UK independent film 'Love Without Walls' starring Niall McNamee and Shana Swash.
