Tuesday 11 September 2018

McCullys have a new album in the workshop !

There was a time in the mid 1980s when McCully Workshop were one of the very best acts on the rock music scene in South Africa. If they played your Matric dance you went to a cool school!

They had a couple of hit singles, Birds Flying High, Buccaneer and Chinese Junkman, and their shows where packed out. Notably their weekend residency in the Canterbury club in  Rondebosch, Cape Town where the band staged concerts including a mixture of covers, comedy and their own songs.

The central line-up did not change much and was set around the McCullagh brothers, Tully and Mike, guitarist Richard Black and keyboard man, Rupert Mellor. But there were many guest players too.



They went on the make 4 albums. Now they are back in the studio working on a new record. The first track taken from the new sessions, I got a Feeling (feat. Richard Black) is now out on all digital platforms. They also have a video on the net which shows the band goofing around at Tully's home studio. I Got a Feeling is a straight pop rocker written by Richard and Tully.

Link to iTunes - I got a Feeling

For the new album all the members are writing and even contributing to the production. No date has been fixed for the release but enough material has been recorded.



Friday 13 July 2018

Retro Rocker project revived.

Hamburg -

The duo Penn Jones and Tully McCully have revived a bunch of great songs written a few years ago and Tully has completed the first single that will be part of an album later this year. The material is very danceable retro pop rock.

Single sleeve by Citizenquinn
Penn who originally hails from London (UK) is now a Nashville based singer, songwriter and sound engineer.

Tully is a producer and bass player for the former chart topping group McCully Workshop.

The two spent time in Tully's Cape Town studio recording the basics, including Penn's very punchy vocal tracks.

For a number of reasons the whole project went on ice for a while. Tully had originally recorded the tracks on 2 inch analog tape in his previous studio and needed to find a way to transfer the tracks to his all digital system set up in his home studio.

Hamburg (Germany) based rock label, Tin Can Discs heard the rough tracks and offered a license to release the productions, so Tully set to work again.  What he has so far delivered are some very well produced and performed songs.

The first release is a high energy track called, What it takes to be, a co-write by the two artists featuring Penn on vocals. The track is live on all the main digital portals now.

Link to the music - Penn and Tully

Beatles remake well done.

10/8/2017

The first new issue on the label to take on in 2017 is the single production by the US act known as RE-IMAGINE Nation.


http://leethorpentertainment.blogspot.de/2017/07/nowhere-man-very-fresh-take.html

Final Falling Mirror album in the works!

Cape Town - 

80s cult rockers, FALLING MIRROR, are set to have their final album of previously unreleased tracks ready to present to fans in the next 2 months.

Johnny Calls the Chemist, issued in 1984 was the single that put the group on the map.  The song which was promoted by Benjy Mudie and issued by the local Warner Brothers affiliate, was penned by Neilen Mirror and Allan Faull and produced by Tully McCully.  The group including drummer Pat Humphreys went on to issue several records that established them as an album act.
L to R, Allan Faull , Nielen Mirror and Pat Humphreys. 
Pic Rob Piper. (c) Songwrights Publishers

In the late 1980s there were reports about an international signing after the label sent tracks to LA. That was a difficult time for SA artists with the so-called cultural boycott in full swing. Falling Mirror's hopes were collateral damage and they trimmed their efforts to recording for the local market.

In 2014 Tully called the two main protagonists back into the studio to write and record again. There were new songs. There was a documentary on the group being shot and they had played a few gigs. This was after a hiatus of some 6 years with no new recordings.

Then the shock of all shocks hit the band. Guitarist Allan Faull had a heart attack in the studio and died.  It has taken 4 years to get over the setback but Tully went back to the tracks a few months ago and decided to finish the album. 

Allan was a reserved and introspective musician but with considerable artistic and technical capabilities. This can be heard on the new recordings which Tully has produced to showcase Allan's playing.

There will be 9 or 10 tracks on the new album cryptically entitled, Yesterday can change, perhaps a comment on breathing new life into the work done by the late guitarist and his songwriting partner. 



The first single from the album to be released on the 3rd of August is called Girl of Fashion and can be heard on all popular digital platforms. Link - Falling Mirror




...unedited.