ED HALE INTERVIEW IN FRIDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK


Radio Industry Journal Friday Morning Quarterback interviewed Ed Hale last week in their Get to Know feature. Read the interview below or click here to go to the source.
Get To Know… Ed Hale
Town and state you grew up in: Well, that’s a tough one. We moved and lived in sixteen different cities before I was 11 years old. A single mother in her early twenties raising two boys isn’t the easiest thing to do, but we eventually settled down in a small town in southern Florida called Naples. Everyone knows Naples Florida. But talk about surreal, growing up in a retirement beach resort type town… Small-town America. The ocean to the west, swamp and forest to the East and South, and one tiny resort town after another to the North for hundreds of miles. “Landlocked” is what it felt like if you were a young wild and rebellious teenager who thought he was the second coming of David Bowie. (laughs) So I was outta there by the time I hit sixteen. Though looking back now… it wasn’t such a bad way to grow up. We were safe and secure, with a real sense of community, and shielded from a lot of the more harsher realities that other kids are confronted with who grow up in large cities. Frankly, I’ve got a treasure chest full of fond memories now of growing up in Naples, FL. But of course like many kids who grow up in small towns, all I wanted to do was get out of there and make something of my life bigger than that.
Town and state you live in now: Umm hum… Another tricky one. But I’ll give it a go. The simple answer is we live in Seattle and New York. We’ve got a beautiful old house in a small woodsy town just outside of Seattle where you can see the stars at night and hear everything from hummingbirds fly to crickets chirping to the relaxing sound of water flowing through a babbling brook that runs through our backyard. It’s a very peaceful escape from the madness of New York City, which is where I actually spend most of my time. Upper West Side to be exact. New York has been home to me for a very long time and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. There’s just nothing like flying in and seeing that first glimpse of city lights down there once through the clouds. If we were Gladiators, New York would be our Rome. It’s where it’s at for sure.
First instrument: Before I could walk I used to sit and try to strum my mom’s old nylon string classical guitar. So that turned me on to the possibilities of guitar at a very early age. But honestly piano was the first real instrument

VIINYL.COM SELECTION OF THE DAY

Viinyl.com Selection of the Day
Stream Ed Hale’s hit “New Orleans Dreams.” Look at pictures. Share with your friends using Google+, StumbleUpon, Facebook, Twitter and more. Connect with the artist one on one.

“NEW ORLEANS DREAMS” HITS #30 AND KEEPS CLIMBING

It’s Tuesday and that means radio reports. “New Orleans Dreams” rose to #30 this week and picked up an additional 50+ more spins across the country. For die-hard fans, go here late Wednesday to see the actual Chart and numbers. It’s a real blast if you’ve been on board a long time with Ed as a fan or friend. There’s something super special about actually SEEING it with your own eyes instead of just hearing about it. Either way “New Orleans Dreams” continues to bring great news and we here at Dying Van Gogh Records and Green Light Go Publicity couldn’t be happier! To see a list of all the stations in the US that are currently playing the song click here to find your local hometown radio station.
For extra credit, head over to iTunes Music Store and download the single or the full length album version if you don’t already have it. Or call, text, email, or Facebook Message your local station to request the song. The FIRST PERSON who HEARS the song on their radio gets a free t-shirt and any Ed Hale or Transcendence album of their choosing. Just post a comment to Ed Hale’s Facebook Page to let everyone else know! As always BIG BIG thank yous to all the fans and listeners!
Green Light Go PR
C/O Janelle Rogers
www.Greenlightgopublicity.com
(877) 208-6194

NEVER BEFORE SEEN FOOTAGE FOUND OF ED HALE SINGING “NEW ORLEANS DREAMS” IN THE RECORDING STUDIO


This never before seen footage brought to us via Fernando Perdomo, lead guitarist for Ed Hale and The Transcendence, and singer/guitarist of the band Dreaming In Stereo. Perdomo engineered and produced Hale’s Ballad On third Avenue album in his Cave Studios. He also played many of the instruments on the album and sang background vocals. What we see here is Hale adding a second lead vocal to the song after singer/songwriter Matthew Sabatella had already laid down his background harmony vocals. Hale had already recorded his main lead vocal on the song and thought the song was finished.
Co-producer and bassist for the album, Roger Houdaille (also in Transcendence and founder/singer/guitarist of the band Ex Norwegian), listened to the completed rough mix of the song and felt that Hale’s vocals “could be better” and urged Ed to give it “one more try.” Needless to say, Hale wasn’t jumping up and down to do so and argued passionately against having to “sing the whole effing song over again!” Especially because the background vocals were already on the tape — which meant that he would not only have to attempt to “sing a better lead”, but he would also have to try to perfectly match all the background vocals that were already on the song or they wouldn’t be in sync. “I can honestly say that I felt one hundred and ten percent sure that the vocals we had already tracked sounded great!” says Hale. “But Roger kept making these ugly faces and saying that they were way out of tune. I just couldn’t hear it. But I trusted Rog. I mean, he’s not a sadist or anything. He had to have a point. Eventually they talked me into it. And yeah, now, obviously, I’m very glad I listened to him.”

SOUNDSPHERE’S CD REVIEW OF “ALL YOUR HEROES BECOME VILLAINS”

The fourth studio album by itinerant project Ed Hale And The Transcendence brings together new contributors and a collection of songs intertwining the talents and influences gathered together. The album opener offers uplifting soul vocals accompanied by a blissful piano and trumpet melody which ebbs and flows during the eleven tracks. Intermittent phrases of dialogue, another recurring motif carried throughout, consolidate a cinematic feel of the LP as the prelude segues into the next.
‘Here It Comes’ is the track infused most with the spirit of Britpop; the anthemic instrumentation, the rousing chorus and the soaring strings all present and correct. Hallmark elements of the Britpop sound also surface in ‘Solaris’, where Hale’s vocals, carried along by jaunty acoustic guitar chords, echo Bono and Alex Kapranos in parts; ‘After Tomorrow’, seven minutes in length, apes the likes of the mellow vibes and extended outro of ‘Champagne Supernova’ and the close backing harmonies of ‘Hey Jude’.

ED HALE JUMPS TO #33 ON THE ADULT CONTEMPORARY TOP40 CHART THIS WEEK

“New Orleans Dreams” — the latest single from Transcendence singer Ed Hale — added an additional 100 spins on Adult Contemporary radio stations across the US last week and picked up 3 more stations, pushing the song up to the #33 spot on the FMQB Top40 Chart! The song is in its sixth week since being released and there seems to be no stopping the politically themed acoustic ballad.
The event is certainly one to celebrate for fans, as this is the first entry into the slightly tamer Adult Contemporary radio format for Hale or his bandmates in the group Transcendence. “We are absolutely ecstatic around here about this,” exclaimed Hale. “Everyone at the radio stations has been so cool to us and the new fans that we’re connecting with on Facebook and Twitter are awesome. It’s been an incredible couple of weeks and we just feel very very grateful…”
The song “New Orleans Dreams” is available for download in both a shorter “radio edit” version and as the full length album version on iTunes (US)iTunes (UK) and Amazon.com as well as numerous other online music etailers. Fans new to the singer can connect, learn more about the artist and hear more songs via Facebook or Twitter.  And for those interested in the long running indie-rock collective featuring Hale, Dreaming In Stereo‘s Fernando Perdomo, and Ex Norwegian frontman Roger Houdaille, Ed Hale and The Transcendence, listeners can head to the bands website transcendence.com or Facebook Page.

ED HALE ENTERS RADIO FORMAT #3 WITH A “TASTE OF TRIPLE A” FEATURE

Ed Hale’s first solo album in years, Ballad On Third Avenue, has charted a lot of territory for the transcendent singer/guitarist in the last year. Upon its release the album went first to college radio and spent several months on the CMJ Top 200, a radio format very familiar with both Hale and the indie-rock collective he sings and plays guitar in, Transcendence. Being a softer acoustic endeavor, the album’s second single “New Orleans Dreams” then went to the Adult Contemporary format, where it’s enjoying spins on 200+ stations and still rising up the Top40 chart (currently #33). In October the album will begin spinning on Triple A radio stations across the country. “New Orleans Dreams” is the third track on the October 2011 edition of A Taste of Triple A compilation CD, a long running tastemaker series of “all things Triple A radio” founded by revered radio veteran Jim Nelson. The CD also features tracks by the B-552s, Indigo Girls, and Oasis’s Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.
The plot thickens as the release date for the new Ed Hale and The Transcendence album, All Your Heroes Become Villains, approaches (Nov. 15th). The “Villains” album is set to hit College Radio on October 25th, and Alt-Rock Specialty Show stations on December 1st, both formats the band has charted in numerous times over the years. In the second week of January 2012 the band will release two singles simultaneously to two additional radio formats, the dark and heavy rocker “Blind Eye” to Modern Rock, and the lushly arranged pop ballad “Solaris” will begin spinning on Adult Contemporary radio stations. Of course there is a chance that Triple A stations may get in on the action and pick up on “Solaris” as well. One thing is for certain: there will be no shortage of Hale or his fellow bandmates in Transcendence on the radio over the next six months.

“NEW ORLEANS DREAMS” HITS #43 AND THE TOP 5 MOST ADDED CHART FOUR WEEKS IN A ROW

It’s a dream come true for eclectic singer/songwriter Ed Hale of the rock group Ed Hale and the Transcendence (formerly Transcendence). His latest single “New Orleans Dreams” has risen to the #43 position on the FMQB Adult Contemporary Chart this week and once again hit the Top 5 Most Added Songs of the Week Chart for the fourth consecutive week since its release.
For long time fans of Ed Hale the news has got to be as much a “dream come true” as it is for the singer. Hale has been a favorite with critics and tastemakers since his debut album release nearly nine years ago, but he has never achieved major commercial radio success.  That is until now. Fans can feel free to pinch themselves all they want and still tune their radios to “those stations that play the softer hit songs” on the FM dial to hear the indie artist singing the “Radio Edit” version of  his song “New Orleans Dreams” from his latest solo album Ballad On Third Avenue.
Fans are encouraged to put their listening ears on and get those fingers out. The next few weeks will be crucial for Hale and fans as the higher the song rises so too does the competition. In uncharted waters much like the floods of the post-Katrina South that Hale sings about in the song, “New Orleans Dreams” needs to rise just three more spots to enter the Top 40 Chart where it will be greeted by such regulars as AdeleColdplayTrainOne Republic, and Lady Gaga. A big coup for the New York based boutique indie record label Dying Van Gogh. And an even bigger coup for an artist like Hale who has never wavered from continuously releasing music regardless of which “format of radio” plays his albums or not.
Of course a Top 40 hit single less than two months before the long awaited new Transcendence album All Your Heroes Become Villains is released could do wonders for the modern rock outfit who haven’t released an album of new material in almost five years. Three of the band members released solo albums in the interim: Hale, bassist Roger Houdaille formed the indie rock sensations known as Ex Norwegian, and lead guitarist Fernando Perdomo formed the “prog-pop” super group Dreaming in Stereo.

“NEW ORLEANS DREAMS” CONTINUES TO RISE UP THE CHARTS

Attention Ed Hale fans and friends: Hale’s latest single “New Orleans Dreams”continued its rise up the charts this week in the Adult Contemporary format, adding an additional +75 spins and four more stations. This week the song shot from #60 to the #51 spot, securing a third consecutive week on the Top 5 Most Added Chart and making it one of the AC Gainers of the Week (biggest jumps on the charts).
Just 11 spots more till Hale enters the Top 40 for the very first time in this new mellower radio format for the usually alt-rock singer. Download the song today from either iTunes or Amazon.com! “New Orleans Dreams” is available in either the full length album version or the shorter Radio Edit version. Sales of either automatically donate a portion of the proceeds to The American Red Cross to help the people of New Orleans.