{"title":"Normil Hawaiians","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOriginally formed in 1979 in Orpington, Greater London, England, UK, *Normil Hawaiians* is a band known for their ever-changing collective and unique sound. Led by guitarist\/vocalist Guy Smith, the band has had two distinct periods with different members and contributors.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDuring their first period from 1979-1981, *Normil Hawaiians* featured a diverse lineup including Jim\/James Lusted on guitar and vocals, Janet Armstrong on vocals, Kev\/Kevin Armstrong on guitar, Colin Donaldson on bass, Chris Westerman on drums, Nick Rose on bass, Sue Leeves and Sarah Harley as backing vocalists. The Famous Delfonso played saxophone while Roger Smith contributed violin. Brian Kealy handled the drums while Stephen Berlin (Bertie) provided vocals.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn their second period from 1981-1986, the band underwent further changes with Simon Marchant joining as guitarist along with Cliff McLenehan on bass and Noel Blanden taking over the drums. Mark Tyler added his expertise with the string synth while Dave Anderson and Alun 'Wilf' Williams both played bass.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"empires-into-sand","title":"Empires into Sand","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNormil Hawaiians\u003c\/strong\u003e presents \u003cem\u003eEmpires into Sand\u003c\/em\u003e, their first album of new material in 40 years. The group honed their sound in the early 80s, blending ambient drone, motorik impulse, and post-punk energy to create a pastoral experimentalism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eEmpires into Sand\u003c\/em\u003e was created in the same improvisational and nuanced manner as their original three albums. The release of their last record, \u003cem\u003eReturn of the Ranters\u003c\/em\u003e, in 2015 by Upset The Rhythm sparked a renewed interest in making music together for the band.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNormil Hawaiians performed a launch show for the ‘lost album’ and continued with more concerts, including appearances at Supernormal and a residency at the Edinburgh Festival. They were even selected by Richard Dawson to perform with him in London.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhile revisiting their original songs for live performances, Normil Hawaiians did not simply recreate the past. They pushed their songs into new and inventive dimensions, maintaining their progressive core but infusing a cosmic uncanniness into their music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eEmpires into Sand\u003c\/em\u003e incorporates samples from old rehearsals and live music, continuing a trend from their previous records. The album is further enhanced with snippets of sound from shortwave radio and satellite transmissions, creating an immersive experience that lasts for 45 minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Upset The Rhythm","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50427430011211,"sku":"2183120","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50427428700491,"sku":"2183119","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/UTR163CD_85448c54_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726824988"},{"product_id":"in-the-stone-where-is-living","title":"In The Stone \/ Where Is Living?'","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst new music from the renowned post-punk group \u003cstrong\u003eNormil Hawaiians\u003c\/strong\u003e since 1985. A pressing of 500 copies only for the world. When Upset The Rhythm released Normil Hawaiians’ lost album \u003cem\u003eReturn Of The Ranters\u003c\/em\u003e back in 2015, the band members got back in touch with each other after a 30 year break and starting playing music together again.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOut of this, the group played a launch show for the album and followed that up with more concerts, including an appearance at Supernormal, a residency at the Edinburgh Festival, gigs at Cafe OTO, and supporting \u003cstrong\u003eRichard Dawson\u003c\/strong\u003e in London too. They even recently toured Greece in support of having all three of their renowned exploratory post-punk albums finally back in print.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThroughout this time, Normil Hawaiians revisited their original songs for these live performances. However, for a group always so interested in evolving their sound and seeking nuance, it comes as no surprise that they shirked the idea of a faithful retread of old material in favour of reimagining their songs. The group experimented by pushing their songs into new inventive dimensions, still progressive at heart, but now imbued with a cosmic uncanny.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA cinematic, even pastoral approach that was always quietly present has come to the fore. The quaint weirdness of folk song, the humanity of communal practice, and the group’s ecological mindedness have all found a place in Normil Hawaiians’ current sound world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith this conducive atmosphere brewing, the band’s first new songs in decades started to emerge. Being far-flung across the UK, the Family Hawaii encamped to Tayinloan, a small village on the west coast of the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland with the intention of recording new music. They set up their own studio in an isolated, windswept house overlooking the sea and started the tape rolling.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNoel Blanden from the band explains how the spirit of the location was such an inspiration to the group during this initial recording session: “Our time immersed in the place and the unique energy it generated in us allowed us to write \u003cem\u003eIn The Stone\u003c\/em\u003e. It goes right back to our first album, this need to document experience before it passes over and eludes us. We were grabbing at the musical ether and letting it shape itself through the band.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom loose, improvised sessions and reflective periods of listening in Tayinloan, Normil Hawaiians captured the moment. \u003cem\u003eIn The Stone\u003c\/em\u003e is a motorik thrill of distorted guitars, locked rhythms, and morphic resonance. Guy Smith is joined by Zinta Egle on vocals, skilfully sharing lyrics informed by Alan Garner and Nigel Kneale’s ideas around recurring events being linked to place and historical artefact; a kind of residual haunting known as ‘Stone Tape’ theory.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn keeping with the context of the song, sounds from several previous live recordings of the track were woven into its present being. Flipside \u003cem\u003eWhere is Living?\u003c\/em\u003e is a decidedly more delicate affair of questioning lyrics and eerie traces, droning strings, and impressions smudged. This resultant 7” is a tantalising glimpse of Normil Hawaiians now, an echo from the past, an echo from the future.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Upset The Rhythm","offers":[{"title":"Black | 7\"","offer_id":50455070015819,"sku":"1096877","price":7.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/7e4b6d8b-230c-4b33-a312-7e1f8a5ba410_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727187891"},{"product_id":"more-wealth-than-money","title":"More Wealth Than Money","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eUpset The Rhythm\u003c\/strong\u003e reissue the re-mastered version of \u003cem\u003eMore Wealth Than Money\u003c\/em\u003e alongside a further full-length collection of demos and unreleased tracks from the album's overlooked corners. Both formats come with a booklet contextualizing the release, full of anecdotes and photos from all band members. It is truly a thing of beauty!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMore Wealth Than Money\u003c\/em\u003e proved a vastly ambitious debut album, sprawling across four sides of vinyl in a way that still feels truly expansive, brave, cinematic even. From the plaintive pastoralism of \"British Warm\" to the transcendental vistas of \"Other Ways Of Knowing,\" the album constantly surprises with its ringing trails of guitar, motorik pulse, and synth rambles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the striving incursion of \"Sally IV\" to the softly spoken disbelief of \"Yellow Rain,\" the album is nothing short of a waking dream. \u003cstrong\u003eGuy Smith\u003c\/strong\u003e’s vocal floats through the album in a haunting manner, at times heartfelt at others overcome. He’s on a quest to his own celestial city and we can stay for the whole journey if we only listen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe album goes from progressive rock, via industrial folk to freaky art-punk whilst sounding delightfully coherent.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Upset The Rhythm","offers":[{"title":"LP | x2","offer_id":50463702057291,"sku":"1019953","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50463704809803,"sku":"2007170","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/92abbecf-9e8e-44ed-a0df-8be2ecc1fd45_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727265827"},{"product_id":"dark-world","title":"Dark World","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDark World\u003c\/em\u003e collects together choice material from \u003cstrong\u003eNormil Hawaiians\u003c\/strong\u003e’ formative early years of 1979-1981. Tagging along with the band from their peppy post-punk origins (so brilliantly debuted on ‘The Beat Goes On’) into the looser, dubbier territories that laid the foundations for the group’s landmark album ‘More Wealth Than Money’.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDark World\u003c\/em\u003e gathers the group’s energetic 7” singles on Dining Out and Illuminated Records, their metamorphic ‘Gala Failed’ EP (Red Rhino) and a lively last-minute Peel session from 1980, alongside outtakes, rarities and demos.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Upset The Rhythm","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50463929303371,"sku":"1124542","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50463931334987,"sku":"1124543","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/cac2a716-82ef-4245-9f3c-7f9f3f6fd7d5_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727268631"},{"product_id":"return-of-the-ranters","title":"Return of the Ranters","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNormil Hawaiians\u003c\/strong\u003e have always operated as a collective of musicians rather than a band per se. For their third album, the group comprised of Guy Smith, Simon Marchant, Alun 'Wilf' Williams, Noel Blanden, and Jimmy Miller. Recorded at Dave Anderson's Foel studio in Wales (sonic home of Amon Düül II and Hawkwind) in the Winter of 1985, a time and a place triangulated from political, social, and geographical aspects.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'\u003cem\u003eReturn Of The Ranters\u003c\/em\u003e' extended their free experiments in compelling arrhythmia and seemingly organized sound, taking a loose trajectory from their previous albums and earlier, more confrontational approach. This album marks the first step in a considerable project Upset The Rhythm have in mind to reissue \/ reappraise the band's other two epic albums '\u003cem\u003eMore Wealth Than Money\u003c\/em\u003e' and '\u003cem\u003eWhat's Going On?\u003c\/em\u003e' that came out in 1982 and 1984 respectively.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis reissue will be accompanied by abundant liner notes, bonus tracks, rehearsal takes, rarities, and singles. LP - Limited Gatefold Vinyl.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"No Label","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50471074136395,"sku":"394004","price":5.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/67084e34-12ae-4183-b1d5-1316b7badc11_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727390441"},{"product_id":"what-s-going-on-2","title":"What's Going On?","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNormal Hawaiians\u003c\/strong\u003e were based between Thornton Heath and the Brixton squat scene encircling the anarchist bookshop at 121 Railton Road.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe brutal 1981 Brixton Riots and the heavy-handed policing that followed had fostered a billowing sense of conflict with state forces. Following the release of \u003cem\u003eMore Wealth Than Money\u003c\/em\u003e (Illuminated, 1982), there was an impetus to make good on hard-won achievements.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRehearsal and writing sessions resumed in the early months of 1983 at Intergalactic Arts Studios, off the Old Kent Rd in London. IGA was a ramshackle, semi-residential rehearsal space where the Hawaiians – none of them ‘natural’ musicians - would often play and rehearse in the dark, recording demos onto cassette.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhereas \u003cem\u003eMore Wealth Than Money\u003c\/em\u003e had evolved in the recording studio, \u003cem\u003eWhat’s Going On\u003c\/em\u003e began to develop as a more pre-meditated, albeit piecemeal work.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eQuiet Village\u003c\/strong\u003e and the unreleased \u003cstrong\u003eOutpost\u003c\/strong\u003e had already been finished at Foel in February 1983. Recording Engineer Brian Snelling recalls how the Hawaiians' approach to making the album was unconventional and spontaneous, reveling in chance and openness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRehearsal tapes from IGA were played along to, and improvisations allowed to develop, with further layers of sound accreting (as can be heard on the final cut of \u003cem\u003eBig Lies\u003c\/em\u003e).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFree Tibet\u003c\/em\u003e was created by the band playing together exploratively (guitars and their sounds were ‘treated’ with a penny whistle and a rusty screwdriver) with Snelling waiting to hit ‘Record’ until he heard that something interesting was coalescing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMixed tapes were then taken by Dave Andersen and Guy Smith to Charly Records’ editing studio in London where Andersen had worked and was able to pull downtime. Here they spliced the recordings into an irregular yet coherent, flowing work, Side One being intentionally and meticulously honed as a seamless and inventive narrative.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFinal masters were then EQ’d and cut by Graeme Durham at the newly opened Exchange Mastering Studios in Camden.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd then nothing happened. Unbeknownst to the band, Illuminated Records was getting into deep financial problems and by early 1984 were struggling to release label-saving albums from Throbbing Gristle, 400 Blows, and Kevin Ayers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMeetings with company boss Keith Bagley were often held in dusty old daytime drinking clubs around the Fulham Road, but the label was in its death throes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTest pressings sounded good but the printing of the cover was all wrong. The cover image was too green, though thankfully a final batch had this corrected to a more appropriate sepia hue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs it became clear that the release was in danger of a catastrophic failure without the goodwill of distributors and promotors, the label gave the band 250 copies to sell as a ‘Sorry for Fucking Up goodbye present’, but the record shops wouldn’t touch them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe company had been blacklisted. Smith and Alun ‘Wilf’ Williams screen printed the label name off the LP to distance it from disaster, but to little avail.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis intricate, challenging, and engaging work had been failed by poor circumstance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCD\u003c\/strong\u003e - Remastered and 7 Bonus Tracks housed in a Gatefold Wallet with Booklet. Limited to 500 Copies.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLP\u003c\/strong\u003e - Black Vinyl housed in Glossy, Printed Gatefold Sleeve, with Offset (matte) Paper Inner Sleeve and Booklet. 500 Copies.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Upset The Rhythm","offers":[{"title":"Black | LP","offer_id":50472192803147,"sku":"1063161","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50472192999755,"sku":"1063160","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/1f116087-68a9-4207-851d-168a4158e14f_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727419973"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/collections\/test_bf58cbb5_thumbnail_4096_faff981b-5104-4f88-839e-58994f35ca72.jpg?v=1726824954","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/fr\/collections\/normil-hawaiians.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}