London show with violins: Tuesday 15 November

We're very excited to say that we'll be joined by four violin players from A Little Orchestra for our show in London on Tuesday 15 November.

Claire, Jill, Matthew and Natalie previously joined us onstage at the Indietracks festival back in July. Here's a video of them playing Sound Of The Carnival with us!



And here's the details for Tuesday's show:

Tuesday 15 November 2011
Scared To Dance presents... Shrag + Pocketbooks + Fever Dream
The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Road, London N1

Shrag played an spectacular set at the recent Fortuna Pop! birthday celebrations, and we can't wait to hear some songs from their forthcoming album again. Tickets are £7 in advance from We Got Tickets

Hopefully see you on Tuesday!

Andy, Daniel, Emma, Ian and Jonny x

Bonfire night: London show and free MP3!

Just a quick reminder that we're playing a show with The Orchids on Saturday 5 November at The Bowery in London.

It's a rare opportunity to see The Orchids, who are one of the stars from the legendary Sarah Records label. We've been invited to play an 'extended set', so we'll have time to play some old favourites as well as some new album songs.

Tickets are just £4 in advance from Pebble Records, or £6 on the door.

To celebrate the gig taking place on Bonfire Night, we're making our firework-themed song Sparklers available as a free MP3 download for this weekend only. It's available free from our Bandcamp page until Sunday night.

Hope you can make it along on Saturday!

Brighton and London shows: autumn 2011

Just a quick post to let you know about a couple of shows we've got coming up this autumn.

22 and 23 October: Brighton Indie-pop Weekender
The Horse & Groom, 129 Islingwood Rd, Brighton, BN2 9SH

This will be our first visit to Brighton since autumn 2006, when we played at a small harvest festival organised by Stars of Aviation. This year's weekender is organised by The Bobby Mcgee's and features lots of ace bands including The Lovely Eggs, Tigercats, Anguish Sandwich, MJ Hibbett, A Little Orchestra and The Give It Ups. And entry is completely free!

The music starts each day at 4pm, and we're playing at around 7pm on the Sunday evening. Here's the full line up:

Saturday 22 October: 4.00pm The Bobby McGees; 4.30 Tourists; 5.10 Dave; 5.50 Quiet Choir; 6.30 M J Hibbett; 7.10 A Little Orchestra; 8.00 The Beautiful Word; 8.30 Candy Panic Attack; 9.15 Stars Down To Earth; 10.00 Tigercats

Sunday 23 October: 4.00pm Into by The Bobby McGees; 4.30 2 Lezzers & A Loop Machine; 5.10 Domonic Von Trapp; 5.50 Jack Lattimer; 6.30 The Give It Ups; 7.10 Pocketbooks; 8.00 Larry Pickleman; 8.30 Tigercub; 9.15 Anguish Sandwich; 10.00 The Lovely Eggs.

Links: Songkick / Last.fm / Facebook


Saturday 5 November - The Bowery, London
Pebble Records presents... The Orchids + Pocketbooks
36-38 New Oxford Street, London WC1A 1EP

A rare London gig for The Orchids, who were stars of the legendary indie label Sarah Records, and who have now recently signed to the ace Pebble Records. We've never played at The Bowery before, so we're really looking forward to it!

Tickets: £4 in advance from Pebble Records
Links: Last.fm / Songkick


Tuesday 15 November - The Lexington, London
Scared To Dance presents... Shrag + Pocketbooks + Fever Dream
The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Road, London N1

We're pleased to be returning to The Lexington for this show with our friends at Scared To Dance. Shrag are one of the most exciting bands around at the moment and we can't wait to hear some songs from their forthcoming third album. We're also looking forward to seeing Fever Dream again, after they played a great show with us in Notting Hill back in June.

Tickets: £7 in advance from We Got Tickets
Links: Songkick / Last.fm / Facebook


Thanks very much to everyone who's picked up a copy of our new album. If you haven't got a copy yet, you can hear six songs in full on our Bandcamp page. And of course, CDs are available from Odd Box Records!

Hope to see you at one of the shows!
Andy, Daniel, Emma, Ian and Jonny x

Carousel: new album released today!

Our new album is officially released today!

The CDs come with a lovingly-prepared 12-page booklet with all the lyrics and some wonderful carousel-themed spiral designs, as created by the excellent Krister Bladh. They're available in Rough Trade, HMV, Amazon, Play, Norman Records, Pebble Records, and other carefully selected shops. And, of course, you can also pick up a CD directly from the friendly folk at Odd Box Records: Pocketbooks - Carousel (Odd Box Records)

Alternatively, if you prefer your music instantly and digitally, the album is now available on iTunes, Amazon MP3, emusic, Rhapsody, Tradebit and various other digital places.

You can listen to the whole thing on the Pocketbooks Bandcamp page or by using the player below:

Thanks very much to everyone who's picked up a copy already!

Andy, Daniel, Emma, Ian and Jonny x

Carousel cupcakes!

We've created some special Carousel cupcakes for our launch gig on Friday 16 September. The photo above is the sample version we made this weekend. They're 100% delicious, completely free and strictly limited edition, so please come along early if you'd like one!

Friday's gig in London will be the launch party for our new album Carousel, which is officially relased on Monday 19 September. Here's the full details for the show...

Which Way Is Up! presents...
Friday 16 September
Pocketbooks + Cancel The Astronauts + Anguish Sandwich
The Wilmington Arms, 69 Rosebery Avenue, London EC1R 4RL
Tickets: £5 advance from WeGotTickets / £6 on the door
Links: Last.fm / Facebook / Songkick / Anorak

Hope to see you there!
Andy, Daniel, Emma, Ian and Jonny x

Album launch show: Friday 16 September

We're having a launch party in London on Friday 16 September to mark the release of our new album 'Carousel'.

Which Way Is Up! presents...
Friday 16 September
Pocketbooks + Cancel The Astronauts + Anguish Sandwich
The Wilmington Arms, 69 Rosebery Avenue, London EC1R 4RL
Tickets: £5 advance from WeGotTickets / £6 on the door
Links: Last.fm / Facebook / Songkick / Anorak

Cancel The Astronauts are a big guitar pop band from Edinburgh / Markinch. They've two EPs under their belts and an album on its way. The band also have a new single 'Seven Vices', which is officially released on 12 September. They've already played a BBC session for Vic Galloway and this is their very first trip to London, so please make them feel welcome!

Anguish Sandwich are Northampton's finest, and feature the familiar face of Chris East (AKA Winston Echo!) They're fresh from playing amazing sets at the Indietracks and Reading festivals - possibly the opposing ends of the indie spectrum! They are described as a riot in a teacup, and if you're not sure what that means, please rest assured that they're ace!

We'll be playing some songs from our new album, Carousel, and some of our older songs too. The new album's in the shops and available as iTunes /Amazon downloads from Monday 19 September. However, you can also pick up a copy right now directly from Odd Box Records.

Hope to see you on the 16th!

Andy, Emma, Daniel, Ian and Jonny x

New album 'Carousel' and free single

Our new single 'Promises, Promises' is now available as a free download from the following links:
Pocketbooks - Promises, Promises (Box.net)
Pocketbooks - Promises, Promises (Bandcamp)

It's taken from our second album, 'Carousel', which is available on Odd Box Records. The official release will be in September, but the label is sending out advance copies now. They're available now from the following link: Pocketbooks - Carousel (Odd Box Records)

The album was recorded during the winter of 2010 in Soup Studios under the Duke of Uke ukulele shop in east London’s Brick Lane. It would have been a wintry record anyway, but the snow and the dark nights definitely played their part. The album begins and finishes with a bleak, distant piano, but inbetween there’s a mix of bright harmonies, shimmering guitars and gorgeous strings.

The violins on the album and the single were played by Matthew Walker and Claire Hadidjenar from A Little Orchestra. It was recorded by Simon Trought (The Wave Pictures, Allo Darlin’, Fanfarlo and Darren Hayman). The album artwork was created by Krister Bladh.

We've had some nice reviews of the new single, including:

"An ecstatic, dizzy slice of pop, with beautiful vocals and harmonies from Emma Hall. It's music that makes you want to be young and in love again"
The Metaphorical Boat

"All the qualities of a summer hit!"
Beautiful Sounds

"This is the song that would come on whenever I tune the radio to Radio 2, the song that would make me believe the world is a welcome and lovely place, warm and wonderful, irresistible and happening, the sort of world you open the curtains to and let the sunshine in for."
A Fog Of Ideas

"A lovely popsong, as always from Pocketbooks"
Eardrums

"The main course should be delicious if this sample is anything to go by"
SoundsXP

"Adorable"
The Zookeeper's Buoy


We hope you enjoy the free single and new album!

Promises, Promises: new single, 18 July 2011

The first single from our forthcoming album will be available as a free download on Monday 18 July.

'Promises, Promises' is a flurry of sweeping violins, girl group harmonies and bittersweet summertime lyrics about casual promises that never materialise. The violins were played by Matthew and Claire from A Little Orchestra, who also play on several other songs on our new album. Have a listen here:



Advance copies of our new album 'Carousel' will also be available to order from Monday 18 July. The album will be officially released by Odd Box Records in September 2011.

We're playing a few shows in July alongside the releases:

14 July 2011 - Apple Eyes single launch
With Apple Eyes and Wolventrix @ The Wilmington Arms, London
(£5, or £3 with this flyer)

27 July 2011 - Spiral Scratch
With Math and Physics Club, Very Truly Yours and The Sweet Nothings @ The Windmill, London

28 July 2011 - A Layer Of Chips
With Math and Physics Club, Very Truly Yours and The Sweet Nothings @ The Chameleon, Nottingham

29-31 July 2011 - Indietracks festival
We're playing at 7pm on the Friday night with Jonny (Norman Blake and Euros Childs!) and Suburban Kids With Biblical Names @ The Midland Railway, Derbyshire

Also, on Friday 15 July: Andy will play a song with A Little Orchestra at a fundraiser for the Duke of Uke. The evening will be headlined by Darren Hayman, and tickets are available here: Duke of Uke 15 July tickets

See you soon!

New song 'Sparklers' / free Rough Trade show

Our first new song in over two years, 'Sparklers', is available now on the Indietracks 2011 compilation. It's taken from our forthcoming album 'Carousel' which will be released by Odd Box Records in September.

The dowload compilation includes 40 fantastic tracks from artists playing at the festival, including songs from The Hidden Cameras, Herman Dune, Jeffrey Lewis, Crystal Stilts, Butcher Boy and Math and Physics Club.

You can set your own price for the compilation, 100% of which will go directly to the Midland Railway charity who host the festival.

It's available to download here: Indietracks 2011 compilation

The Indietracks festival takes place on 29-31 July at a steam railway in Derbyshire, hosting around 50 fantastic indiepop bands. Headliners this year include Edwyn Collins, Herman Dune, The Hidden Cameras, Jonny, Jeffrey Lewis, Crystal Stilts, Suburban Kids With Biblical Names and Math and Physics Club.

You can find further information (line-ups, tickets, how to get there etc.) on the festival's website: http://www.indietracks.co.uk/

Free Rough Trade show: Saturday 25 June

We've been invited to play at the Rough Trade Shops Afternoon (RoTa) at the Notting Hill Arts Club, London on Saturday 25 June. The line-up has been put together by Odd Box records, and features rock 'n' rollers MFC Chicken, the off kilter psyche pop of Baaneex and post punk tunes from Fever Dream. It starts at 4pm and it's all over by a very sociable 8pm.

It's free entry, and theres further details here: Odd Box / Rough Trade Afternoons

We're also playing Indietracks warm-up shows on 27 July (London) and 28 July (Nottingham) with Math and Physics Club, Very Truly Yours and The Sweet Nothings.

Hope to see you at one of the shows, and enjoy the Indietracks compilation!

Indietracks 2011 and summer shows

We're very excited to say that we'll be playing at the Indietracks festival this year. The festival takes place on a steam railway in Derbyshire on the weekend of 29-31 July 2011. Bands confirmed so far include Edwyn Collins, The Hidden Cameras, Jeffrey Lewis, Jonny (Norman Blake and Euros Childs), Suburban Kids With Biblical Names, Math and Physics Club and loads, loads more!

Cheaper early bird tickets are available before Friday 6 May by visiting: www.indietracks.co.uk/tickets.html

We also have a few dates in the diary ahead of the festival, including a very mini-tour in July!

Saturday 7 May - London
Librarians Wanted presents...
Stars in Coma + Pocketbooks + Hella Better Dancer + Corporal Machine and the Bombers and Haiku Salut
Tickets / Last.fm / Facebook

Wednesday 27 July - London
Spiral Scratch present an Indietracks warm-up show...
Math and Physics Club + Very Truly Yours + Pocketbooks + The Sweet Nothings
Tickets / Last.fm

Thursday 28 July - Nottingham
A Layer Of Chips presents an Indietracks warm-up show
Math and Physics Club + Very Truly Yours + Pocketbooks + The Sweet Nothings
Last.fm