THE PENNY BLACK REMEDY | bio

From top left: Marijana Hajdarhodzic (vocals/percussion), Steve Nelson (bass), Wilco van Eijk (drums), Keith Thomson (vocals/guitars/song-writing duties)

The Penny Black Remedy (Balkan/gypsy/punk/juggernauts that they are!) fast became one of my favorites last year. I have been cheering them on from over here for awhile now, privy to their live shows and goings-on that they’ve been up to lately (a lot) over in the London area and other parts of the UK and Europe. I’ve also come to learn very recently through my dear friend Steve (who looks suspiciously similar to TPBR’s bass player) the exciting news that they will be playing several music festivals this summer, one of which is a recently confirmed date at Glastonbury!

To celebrate this news, TPBR have just released their 2nd single, and it is available as a free download via their website, now through June 27th.

The single, “You Have Wasted Your Life, Now Please Stop Wasting Your Money,” includes a b-side—you have to pretend the download has a second side to it, ok?—a brand new song titled “You Look Funny When You Think,” which I just heard for the first time earlier today. It’s a great acoustic track with Marijana Hajdarhodzic on lead vocals (what an amazing voice). The download comes as a zipped file (it also contains hi res artwork of the single cover, and a signed lyric sheet) and you can select among different file types (.mp3, flac, AAC) depending on how discerning your ears are.

To download the single they only ask that you sign up for their mailing list, a very fair trade in my opinion, and they also allow you the option to unsubscribe if you wish, but trust me, Keith’s email updates are among some of the funniest things I have ever read, you won’t want to unsubscribe.

If you enjoy “You Have Wasted Your Life, Now Please Stop Wasting Your Money” you need to check out the rest of the album, No One’s Fault But Your Own. It’s an incredibly infectious collection of songs full of wit and dark humor, and you can listen to in its entirety via stream and purchase from their website here rather than just me talking about it, so stop listening to me and get on over there!

Wait! Before you go, they have also sent out into the wilds a new video to go with the “You Have Wasted Your Life, Now Please Stop Wasting Your Money” single, and you can view it on their site along with other videos, and also right here:

Wait again, there’s still more! You should also check out this great article about the launch party for the single from Clink Magazine, a review with some great photos of the show.

Downside: I’m stuck all the way on the other side of the ocean and I’ll be missing all the fun (but cheering from afar!)