Civilized Tears

http://www.josaka.com/Content/2007/Civilized-Tears-270507.htm

Tim Bennett of Civilized Tears finds a way to turn the chaos of life into something beautiful.

Having lived in Tokyo, Brazil, New York, LA, Miami, Milan, London, Paris and Seattle, Tim Bennett, founding member of Civilized Tears, is no stranger to the beauty that the world can offer. He is also no stranger to the how ugly it can be.

He has lived on the emotional fringes of life, composing songs that write themselves out of the true experiences that he has had and it is this that makes him unique and original as an artist.

Bennett worked painstakingly hard, doing every job conceivable in order to survive and feed his passion for music and lyrics. After painting houses, acting in commercials, posing nude for worldwide publications, cleaning toilets, canvassing for political organizations, playing in the New York subways, being a courier, being arrested for spying, being a waiter, a bartender, a cook and a gardener, working in clothes stores, selling paintings, selling blood and having to be protected by the Mafia, Tim Bennett maintains that he has never sold his soul!

He has had lunch with Mussolini's grand daughter, been stood up by Phil Spector, been abducted by an Italian Countess, been invited to marry into General Franco's family, been stranded on a desert island, survived two major earthquakes, been the first white man to meet the Sultan of Brunei's witch doctor and has driven through the streets of LA under police escort.

“The everyday struggle of life is the fuel that fires me to write and sing. Music keeps me on the border of sanity. I suppose fear, depression and sadness are a symptom of being aware of the chaos in this world. The choices are to ignore and pretend it doesn’t exist or to embrace and write about it and somehow turn it into something beautiful” says Tim Bennett of Civilized Tears.

Civilized Tears are currently working on material for their first official studio album which is due out beginning of next year. The as yet un-named CD will be released on the Happy Aliens record label through all major retailers and online stores and will be produced by the New York Producer/Guitarist, Jeff Thall.

'Things are gathering momentum,' says Tim, 'we're really excited about the new material and can't wait to finally get in the studio and record the songs.'

Their first single 'Blue Sunrise' will be released in September and has already received some brilliant reviews from some top names within the music industry. The band have also drafted in the services of London based film director Sam Williams for the brand new music video for ' Blue Sunrise' which will start filming in July 2007. Sam's debut movie 'Hot Balls', filmed in New York last summer, will be featuring at the Cannes Film Festival later this year. The song will be performed at this years’ Newbury Fringe Festival in Victoria Park on the evening on Sunday 27 May.

Tim wrote the song, a true story, about one of the band’s first bass players whilst in living in New York, ‘One night he headed off the Washington Square Park to do some 'night shopping' and when he returned we knew something was really wrong. He sat in the middle of the wooden floor and just started crying inconsolably. Then he moved over the window which he opened and began to stare out across the city skyline in a trance, occasionally shouting at people 18 floors below on the sidewalk for no apparent reason. He was obviously deeply messed up and my girlfriend and I decided to keep a close eye on him. Suddenly he mumbled that he didn't want to live anymore and climbed up on the window sill and hung his body out of the window. I could see he was going to jump. It seemed utterly unreal. I grabbed his arm and my girlfriend grabbed my arm. He tried to throw himself out of the open window to the granite pavement a hundred and fifty feet below. We pleaded and reasoned with him as calmly as we could. Eventually, exhausted and resigned he came inside.’

‘He left New York City soon afterwards and headed back to France where he joined a seminary school to become a monk. He was a complicated soul and needed to find some kind of lasting peace and meaning in his life. The last photo he sent me was of him kneeling down, kissing the Pope's hand in a state of total rapture. I wrote 'Blue Sunrise' after speaking to him on the telephone for the last time.’

Having already played several venues around the south, Civilized Tears are now enjoying exposure over the internet (their myspace site is receiving over 1000 plays per day), on regional radio stations, as well as appearing on selected TV shows. James Batten, TV Producer for the Avenue 11 music show said after a recent recording “…one of the best shoots I've been on for a while!”

The Details

Date: Sunday 27 May 2007, 7.00pm
Venue: Bandstand, Newbury Fringe Festival, Victoria Park, Newbury. Cost: Free
- Josaka

When I was 13 I desperately wanted to be an indie kid. I had the painted doc martin boots, a copy of melody maker surgically attached to me every Wednesday morning, the Louise Wiener haircut (as opposed to the standard issue Frischman) and the black army bag with the necessarily obscure band names; Belly, Salad, 60ft Dolls, Whipping Boy. But I never quite achieved it, I was a little too odd. This track, though, would not have come off of my walkman for a good week back then.

It is a sweeping crescendo of prettily whimsical indie-pop reminiscent of the early 90’s brit-pop allergic bands such as Gene and Duffy that maintained a dignified credibility without ever really breaking out on the main scene. There is a beautiful balance and symmetry to both the recording and composition with the lulling floppy-fringed vocals (oh for a time when a floppy fringe reminded you of Alex James rather than sodding Panic at the Disco!!), the surburban almost suede-esque lyrics, the jangly upbeat guitars and the pitter-patter brush drums. And as far as I am concerned you just can’t wrong with a few “I –y-ay-ay-ay-ay”s. I do struggle when I consider if there is a market for their sound at the moment, it is so out-of-kilter with so much modern indie that seems so much more electronic in origin with bands like the killers and the editors seemingly taking their influence from 80’s icons rather than barely twinkling satellites of the 90’s. I love it though, and will be very interested to see if Civilised Tears manage to carve out a niche of their own. If they do I will be standing down the front of the gig with the tiara on.

http://audio-democracy.com/ - Audio Democracy

Blue Sunrise
Another find on Myspace...it was a good week. I dunno why but I can just imagine this song played at a festival, maybe its the weird "oooh ohhh" in the chorus, but I just feel big jumping crowds singing together when I play this. Im so into its mix of chopping, wah'd guitar and electro. Everything in this song works 100percento perfecto
A mellow bubbling start just lets you know something good is coming and the dive into the chorus really does make the hair stand up,... tell me your head isnt nodding when you listen to this song..you must be dead if it isnt. A great example of a song that starts at the bottom of the hill and has you running up and down that same hill over and over again. A good song for when pounding a treadmill..trust me, its true.

by Kinky Durakee for Joe Soap Records

www.joesoaprecords.co.uk

http://www.myspace.com/kinkydurakee - Kinky Durakee

'Excellent'
Steve Lillywhite
Producer: U2, Razorlight, Counting Crows

"Blue Sunrise" sounds like a hit!'
Steve Bush Producer: Stereophonics, Corinne Bailey Rae

'A great voice'
Steve Fisk, Producer: Nirvana, Soundgarden

"Quality Rock"
Alan Edwards
Publicist for David Bowie , The Who & Paul McCartney

'Wonderful... "Blue Sunrise" is one of my favourite tracks' DJ Danko, USA

'Tim Bennett is a singer-songwriter of exceptional talent. His songs, which clearly come straight from the heart, are both profound and melodic.

"3,000 Faces" boasts a glorious melody, haunting chord changes and a lyric that has to be listened to.' Mark Kearns, TV Times

'An eclectic mix of the songwriting craftsmanship of Dylan crossed with the hyperactive energy and popular appeal of Robbie Williams'
Nick Cave, London Evening Standard

'Great stuff! I've gotten some really nice comments about the tunes after playing them on my show.'
DJ Gene, Classic FM New York, USA

'"Flying Over America" is a fantastic song'
Joshua Dern, Atlantic Records, New York

'With songs as strong as "Flying Over America" and "Miseducated", Tim was without doubt the most talked-about artist at the gig!'
Geoff Wooton, Petersfield Post

'An emotive full sound. He gets better and better. He has great presence and image and is developing into a real quality package. He has twigged that for a good song you need a strong hooks... well you get them in spades here!'
ONSA, July 2006

'I love the sound'
DJ Gemini?USA

'Strong song writing'
Steve Lovell, Producer: Blur

'I love the songs'
Morning Show Shannon, KEXP Radio, Seattle

'Great songwriting'
Cyro Batista, Percussion: Paul Simon, Sting

'The Band sounds great!'
Stu Epps, Producer/Mixer/Engineer: Led Zeppelin,
Oasis, Cat Stevens, George Harrison - Various