Introducing Ultimate Painting (Mazes / Veronica Falls)

ULTIMATE PAINTING SHARE ‘ULTIMATE PAINTING’

NEW BAND FORMED BY MEMBERS OF MAZES AND VERONICA FALLS

DEBUT SINGLE RELEASED 18TH AUGUST ON TROUBLE IN MIND RECORDS

UK TOURDATES FROM SATURDAY WITH PARQUET COURTS

Drop City was a community formed by a small group of American artists in 1965. It was the first real commune, pre-summer of love, inspired by the happenings of Allan Kaprow, Fluxos and John Cage. The artists’ most celebrated collaboration was a piece they called ‘The Ultimate Painting’.

Ultimate Painting are James Hoare and Jack Cooper. They’re a band.

“James and I started talking about making music whilst we were on tour with our other bands. We’d known each other to say ‘hello’ to for about four years and saw each other other regularly at shows in London. I’d always enjoyed seeing him and chatting, but I found him to be an tricky character; he had a habit of threatening to get me and being abusive. I took it as a sign of endearment”

Ultimate Painting head out for their first shows this month supporting Parquet Courts.

21 June – SWG3 – Glasgow
22 June – The Kazimier – Liverpool
23 June – HMV Library – Birmingham
25 June – ULU – London
26 June – Academy 2 – Oxford

The seeds of the band and their friendship were sewn in Europe when Jack’s band Mazes were on tour supporting James’ band Veronica Falls.

“On returning, we began figuring out where we could take the whole thing and what sort of music we’d like to make. Demos were exchanged and we hit on some synergy in the songs we were sending each other. After a fairly disastrous first attempt at recording, we reconvened and recorded what became the song ‘Ultimate Painting’, a vague theme song for the band… everything began to fall into place; us both singing and playing guitar, me playing drums and James playing the bass. Our ethos was; if it wasn’t working, don’t push it; so some sessions ended before they began… oh and the music won’t be touched my anything digital till it needs to go online or something”

Hear ‘Ultimate Painting’

Initial plans to record a couple of tracks together quickly became an EP and then a full album which will be issued via Chicago’s Trouble In Mind (Ty Segall, Mikal Cronin, Jacco Gardner) this Autumn.

The album – five songs from James and five from Jack – is very much a product of their collective taste… obviously. That’s what records usually are right? Yo La Tengo, Red Krayola, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Stereolab, Townes Van Zandt, Velvet Underground… some sense of space and feel. Some haze from Santyajit Ray films John Barry and Jack Nitzsche… Taking Tiger Mountain.

“But really there’s no story apart from the fact we set out to do something and we did it.”

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