The Test Drive: The Vagaband – Midwinter Moonshine

The Vagaband are set to drop their new EP titled ‘Midwinter Moonshine’ this Friday (December 9th). That feeling of a group of dear friends playing in your living room, it would be a crime to listen to this via ear buds. I hope this is coming out on vinyl. That is where this belongs.

Harking back to when music was cool to the ears and musicians hot on the stage, we get a set of songs that capture a group of true artists in their best surroundings; the studio and the stage.

Almost with a jam band feel on each track, The Vagaband give me visions of those days traveling in an old converted U-Haul van from bar to bar to get that $500 split four ways. How the heart makes the memories grow fonder. What I mean, though, is that I hear a band that wants you to listen. They really love what they do.

Whether its a Holiday song or cutting heads on stage, The Vagaband is there. Giving it their all for you. They deserve this listen.

The Vaganabd prove that Americana doesn’t come from the land. It comes from the heart.

About The Vagaband

The Vagaband release their new digital EP ‘Midwinter Moonshine’ on December 9th. The title track is a bittersweet song about the pressures of Christmas. Reminiscent of the balladry of Elvis Costello and Badly Drawn Boy, the protagonist soon reveals he’s ‘lacking the spirit that comes with these times’, preferring to stay at home with his love.

Track two, ‘On my Feet Again’, (taken from upcoming album ‘Beautiful World’), evokes the spirit of a hungover guitar picker on the morning after. The remaining two songs are live performances taken from the band’s annual ‘Midwinter Moonshine’; a 12-year running revue show. These songs are ‘White Freight Liner’ by Townes Van Zandt (featuring killer improvisational jams between a 9 piece Vagaband including Joe Harvey-Whyte on pedal steel guitar)) and Black Eyed Sally, another Vagaband original.

In 2021 the band provided the soundtrack for, and appeared in, the TV awareness campaign for the national census. Broadcast to millions, their version of The Zombies’ ‘This Will Be Our Year’ was released on the ‘White Noise’ EP. Vocalist José McGill hails from an Irish musical pedigree. His father was a contemporary of Van Morrison and roped him onto the stage in the family band in his late teens, gaining a massive regional fan base in the early 90’s.

The Vagaband was formed in 2006. Taking their brand of roots rock across the UK & Europe, playing bars, street corners, house concerts, they eventually honed their craft as festival headliners, performing regularly at Glastonbury and many other national festivals. With a rotating line up of multi-instrumentalists and José McGill and Gregory Cook as the ever-present writers and producers, they have released a consistent output of slick Americana.

LINKS:
https://www.thevagaband.co.uk
https://www.youtube.com/user/thevagaband
https://www.facebook.com/thevagaband