27 May 2009 — gig list updated!

• June 5, 2009 - The Cluny, Newcastle. Tel: 0191 230 4474.
• June 20, 2009 - The Met, Bury. Tel: 0161 761 2216.
• July 30, 2009 - Bluecoat Arts Centre, Liverpool.
• July 31, 2009 - Cox's Yard, Stratford-upon-Avon. Tel: 01789 404600.
• October 30, 2009 - The Musician, Leicester.
• November 2, 2009 - Telford's Warehouse, Chester. Tel: (01244) 390 090.
• November 21, 2009 - Academy, Manchester. Tel: 0161 275 2930.
• December 12, 2009 - O2 Academy, Liverpool. Tel: 151 707 3200. New gig!

13 nov 2008 — download-only double-album now released

Ian has released the double-album, Lost Icicles, volumes 1 & 2. This is available online and includes newly found unreleased material from The Icicle Works. Both volumes available through Townsend Records. Ian writes:

The way these tapes came back to me is bizarre. Mike Badger (founder of the La's) was having a cigarette outside a studio in Preston recently when he saw someone throwing a bunch of reel to reel tapes into a skip. Curiosity got the better of him and he leaned over to have a look. They turned out to be a bunch of Icicle Works tapes that we'd all forgotten about. He grabbed them and passed them on to my guitar doctor Belgian John. I then went to retrieve them and was frankly amazed at what I saw. A full concert from Boston 1984 and about thirty other unreleased tracks. I was stunned to see the original masters of 'Are We Dreamers' and 'Irish Soldiers', recorded at Rock City in Shepperton studios, intended to be our debut single but shelved when we fell out with Scratch records who paid for them. A bunch of songs I'd forgotten about: 'Clockmaker', 'All Is Right' amongst them, and loads of embryonic demos that would eventually become songs on our first and second albums. The demo of 'Love Is A Wonderful Colour' with completely different lyrics. I was gobsmacked. I've included 18 tracks on 'Lost Icicles Vol 1' and it makes for a very interesting listen for any Icicles fan (of which I include myself).

'Lost Icicles Vol 2' is an incendiary document of the first Icicle Works line-up blowing the yanks away on our second U.S. outing in 1984. I can't believe there's only three of us playing that music. We worked fuckin' hard. The only live version of 'Scarecrow' to my knowledge. These tapes are a piece of history and I've decided to release them as download only. The digital download is top quality (I tried it myself). For a silly price you get a lot of great music. Don't wait for a physical release — there won't be one.

Crank it up!
Ian McNabb
Liverpool
October 2008

11 nov 2008 — merseybeast (updated 15 feb)

Ian McNabb's autobiographical book Merseybeast is now available at online book retailers, and also at Townsend Records where autographed copies are available.

Ian McNabb is one of the finest singer/songwriters Britain has produced over the past twenty-five years. This is his long-awaited autobiography, spread over 380 pages & packed with exclusive photographs. From his innocent first steps into the music business via the working men's social clubs in the mid-seventies to his success on the world stage in the eighties and beyond, this is one hell of a rock'n'roll rollercoaster ride. Told to the reader as though they were sitting down over drinks with the man himself, this is both an exhilarating, exciting and frequently hilarious account of what it's like to tie oneself to the mast of your dream. Told with a refreshing frankness and self-depreciating candor, the author steers us through his hits and misses seemingly without pausing for ink.

A Mercury prize nominated artist who got to play with many of his childhood heroes, plough his own furrow with seeming disregard for all but the quality of his music, and lived to tell the tale, this is the book for anyone who ever wanted to know what happens when you (almost) get everything you ever wanted.

"The sweetest guy in rock'n'roll. A legend as far as I am concerned." Alan McGee - founder of Creation records.

"A pure energy musician." Billy Talbot - bass player in Neil Young and Crazy Horse.

"He's a genius." Word magazine.

"A great read, I couldn't wait to see what happened next." Paul Du Noyer - author of 'Liverpool - Wondrous Place.'

"There's too many drugs and women get treated very badly." Pat McNabb - Ian's mum.