Wendy James to headline Manchester's Deaf Institute

Wendy James brings full-band tour to Manchester following The Shape of History release

Wendy James will head out on a full UK tour in support of her new album The Shape of History, with a Manchester gig at the Deaf Institute. The tour will span major cities including London, Cardiff, Glasgow and Birmingham. As part of the tour Wendy James will also headline at Liverpool’s Hangar 34. The Manchester and Liverpool gigs are part of a 20-date run.

The tour follows the release of The Shape of History, James’ tenth solo album. The record, available digitally and on deluxe vinyl and CD, was written, produced and mixed by James and recorded in both West London and New York City.

Wendy James‘ live band features Dave Parsons (Transvision Vamp), Jim Sclavunos (Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds) and Alex Ward (Thurston Moore Group). They will be playing songs from across all of her albums, from TVV Pop, to New Wave Punk to Lo-Fi Racine No.1, through to the big productions of Queen High Straight and The Shape Of History, picking off favourite songs from each.

Speaking about the album Wendy James said, “My songwriting has always been a wide mix of sounds, which naturally reflect the different music and references I have and love. ‘The Shape Of History’ was recorded on Scrubs Lane, West London with Alex Ward, Harry Bohay and James Sclavunos. I then went off to NYC and Brooklyn to record the pianos and organs with Dave ‘The Moose’ Sherman. Overdubbing continued with Al Lawson at the engineering helm in his Shepherd’s Bush studio and then I went back to Berkeley, CA to mix with Jesse Nichols before mastering with Fred Kevorkian in Brooklyn NY. I have spent so much time with this music, I know it note-for-note and love it and am so happy for you to make it your own now”.

“The Shape Of History has a lot about love in it, a lot about appreciation of oneself, one’s life and importantly, of others. It is life’s arc of starting out, blooming into something and in some ways maturing. I don’t think my music has got older, I know I’ve not gone mellow! My attitude can be more ferocious and fearless than ever, but there is an acquired wisdom, which naturally comes after having been alive for a few decades! ‘The Shape Of History’ is a love letter and a Thank you note to life so far. The culmination of my tenth album is the result of co-musicians and engineers who I’ve worked with previously and with whom I share a language. We know each other, we choose to work together. We enjoy each other’s talents and personalities. There is a happiness, a belonging, when we meet up, and an open and determined desire to achieve what we know we have to”.

“From meeting Nick Christian Sayer and forming Transvision Vamp, the two of us walking into EMI Records and demanding to see the head of Artists and Repertoire, Dave Ambrose. Getting signed and making our hits of the late 80’s and 90’s. From collaborating with Elvis Costello and mixing that album at Sunset Sound in Hollywood where The Stones mixed ‘Exile On Main St’, then moving to NYC to start writing and recording as a solo artist, all the gigs I’ve played and the friends I’ve made around the world, the astounding, incredible, wonderful people whose lives I’ve crossed paths with… I am so grateful for it all.”