MICK THOMAS’ ROVING COMMISSION releases new video for ‘Anything You Recognise’ + releasing graphic novel ‘Coldwater Chronicals’

Following his performance on ABC Melbourne’s Jon Faine’s final Conversation Hour show today, Mick Thomas has released the video for his next single from Coldwater DFU, ‘Anything You Recognise’. The video is a fully animated literal interpretation of the song, painstakingly and lovingly drawn by local cartoonist Angelo Madrid. ‘Anything You Recognise’ is a weighty song from a mighty album – recorded on Jim Dickinson’s Zebra Ranch in Memphis with veteran roots producer Kevin Houston, it is an ambitious, sweeping landscape piece, with personal and political in its implication.

In addition to the ‘Anything You Recognise’ video, Angelo Madrid and Mick have produced Coldwater Chronicles, a graphic novel of Coldwater DFU. It’s eighty pages of lovingly drawn cartoons telling various stories of how the songs for his most recent album were written, how the album was made, and how the band got to Memphis. There’s chord charts and first drafts of the songs from Mick’s trusty Spirax notepad, and an extensive written section giving an in depth look into the machinations of such an ambitious project that rendered an album many critics felt to be a career highlight.

Mick is also gearing up to release a brand new bootleg covers CD for Mick’s customary Christmas tour. Bipolar Request is a selection of songs paid for by punters as part of the pre-release crowdfunding campaign for the album. Once Mick had sent the recordings out to the people who had so generously stumped up their money, there was a feeling the wider public and fanbase should hear these versions as well. Prince’s ‘When You Were Mine’ is a lot of fun, Rod Stewart’s ‘You’re In My Heart’ is a winner, and it’s hard to go too wrong with Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Landslide’ or Ewan McColl’s ‘Dirty Old Town’. The overriding lesson for the band in all of this is that different people get vastly different things from their music and have correspondingly varied expectations of them as artists. It was recorded in two sessions right at the end of the national tour, and what you can hear in the fourteen tracks is the sound of a happy band that has played a decent amount of shows together.

Mick Thomas’ Roving Commission are now looking forward to hitting the road for their much-loved Christmas jaunt around the nation. The current line-up of the Roving Commission features some new old faces, including alt-country songstress Brooke Russell and bass maestro Ben Franz (on sabbatical from The Waifs), alongside long time cohorts Squeezebox Wally and Dave Folley (Tex Perkins, Archie Roach). 

Mick Thomas: singer-songwriter, bandleader, theatre composer, author, publican, raconteur, chancer – and now composer of a fine graphic novel Coldwater Chronicles.

MICK THOMAS’ ROVING COMMISSION
WISHING YOU A COLDWATER CHRISTMAS TOUR
NOVEMBER – DECEMBER

Friday 15 November
Healesville Music Festival | Healesville, VIC
healesvillemusicfestival.com.au

Saturday 16 November
The Bundy | Sale, VIC
Supported by Khristian Mizzi
trybooking.com

Saturday 23 November
Navy Club | Fremantle, WA
Supported by Brooke Russell
trybooking.com

Sunday 24 November
Oxford Hotel | Perth, WA
Supported by Brooke Russell
fomoevents.com

Friday 29 November
The Wheatsheaf Hotel | Adelaide, SA
Supported by Alana Jagt
oztix.com.au

Saturday 30 November
The Wheatsheaf Hotel | Adelaide, SA
Supported by Alana Jagt
oztix.com.au

Sunday 1 December
Three Brothers Arms | Adelaide Hills, SA
Supported by Alana Jagt and Black Diamond
eventbrite.com.au

Wednesday 4 December
Smiths Alternative | Canberra, ACT
Supported by Brooke Russell
smithsalternative.com

Thursday 5 December
Camelot Lounge | Marrickville, NSW
Supported by Aerial Maps
stickytickets.com.au

Friday 6 December
Camelot Lounge | Marrickville, NSW
Supported by Alana Jagt
stickytickets.com.au

Saturday 7 December
3pm & 8pm shows
Milk Factory | Brisbane, QLD 
Supported by Alana Jagt
oztix.com.au (3pm) | oztix.com.au (8pm)

Sunday 8 December
Milk Factory | Brisbane, QLD
Supported by Alana Jagt
oztix.com.au

Friday 20 December
Spotted Mallard | Brunswick, VIC
Supported by Alana Jagt and Brooke Russell
moshtix.com.au

Saturday 21 December
Caravan Music Club | Bentleigh East, VIC
Supported by Alana Jagt
trybooking.com

Sunday 22 December
Caravan Music Club | Bentleigh East, VIC
Supported by Alana Jagt
trybooking.com