The Coldest Winter for a Hundred Years

Kitten Charmer is thrilled to announce the triumphant return to active duty of the legendary "lost" Liverpool band The Wild Swans! Founder Paul Simpson first emerged as the keyboard player in Julian Cope's The Teardrop Explodes, but soon formed a group of his own and conjured up the classic single "Revolutionary Spirit" as the last release from the infamous Zoo label in 1982. BBC sessions followed, and the late, great DJ John Peel selected the Swans' session as one of the first releases in the Peel Sessions series. While friends and label-mates Echo and the Bunnymen and the Teardrops went on to sign to major labels, The Wild Swans disappeared from view, leaving only what many consider one of the all-time best UK indie singles as evidence. Perfect, in a way. Fast-forward to the late '80s, and a reconfigured Wild Swans were signed by Seymour Stein to Sire Records worldwide. Two full-length gems, Bringing Home the Ashes and Space Flower, were met by rabid enthusiasm particularly on US college radio and in the Far East, and then the band vanished once again. Now, Simpson has taken up the moniker once more, with the brilliant lineup of Les Pattinson (ex-Echo and the Bunnymen), Ricky Maymi (Brian Jonestown Massacre), Mike Mooney (ex-Spiritualized), Steve Beswick (ex-The Heart Throbs) and Richard Turvey. The new album, The Coldest Winter for a Hundred Years, sounds contemporary, yet maintains that mysterious something about Liverpool psychedelia, and is already being hailed as a classic.