The Old Ceremony, the orchestral-pop quintet Django Haskins has led since 2004, just released its fifth album, Fairy Tales And Other Forms Of Suicide. The band’s first LP for Yep Roc is also its first to receive a vinyl pressing, as well as its first to be released in Europe. In other words, it’s the perfect time for a provocative album title. Like many of the reinvented and rejuvenated performers the band now calls label mates (such as Robyn Hitchcock, Nick Lowe, John Doe and Paul Weller), the Old Ceremony makes music unencumbered by the ever-shifting demands of new and now. Haskins will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Old Ceremony feature.
Haskins: Les Paul invented overdubbing. Eric Burdon supposedly invented amp distortion by poking holes in his speaker cone. Well, our band also has a contribution to the world aside from our music: a new sport called frennis. I’m sure other people have come up with similar ideas, but I guarantee we’ve played it more often than anyone. It is basically a net-free tennis game played with a frisbee. It’s best played in doubles, and any old parking lot will do, which makes it convenient for a touring band. We’ve also played on actual tennis courts, but to do so requires studiously ignoring the disapproving looks of actual tennis players. We plan to publish a brochure with complete rules of frennis at some point. Once we figure them all out, that is.
Video after the jump.
