Jack Ladder joins Endless Recordings, revisits ‘Hurtsville’
Sydney singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jack Ladder has joined Endless Recordings, the label launched last year by Bad//Dreems guitarist Alex Cameron and operated with Dan Radburn as manager and Mclean Stephenson as creative director.
Along with the signing, the Blue Mountains-hailed performer, who at high school dreamed of becoming a jazz legend, is planning to revisit his third album Hurtsville.
It marks its 10th anniversary, and Ladder (real name: Tim Rogers) and his band The Dreamlanders will perform the record live for the first time since its release through Spunk Records.
The Hurtsville record was his first with The Dreamlanders with guitarist Kirin J. Callinan, bassist Donny Benét and drummer Laurence Pike.
Recorded in the dead of winter in a rural NSW mansion with producer Burke Reid, Hurtsville was acclaimed for its brutal honest and eccentricity, and short-listed for the Australian Music Prize and nominated for best album and best song in The Age EG Music Awards.
It was also released in North America via the Holloweyed and in Germany/Benelux via Skycap.
Once describing his lyrical approach, Ladder explained, “I use simple language to communicate directly but I don’t think of myself as an ‘everyman’.
“It’s easier to discuss complicated things when you write simply. I love language but I don’t do anything unless I have to. I’m not lazy but I hate waste.”
As part of the 10th-anniversary recordings, Endless will release a limited edition vinyl om April 23.
This will be accompanied by Hurt Book, a collection of never before seen photos, lyrics and other ephemera, combined with essays and testimonials about the album from the likes of Sharon Van Etten, Lloyd Cole and Alex Cameron.
The re-issue will also include Ladder’s original Hurtsville demos, an intriguing document of the album’s genesis.
They will do two shows, Melbourne’s Forum on May 6 and Sydney’s Factory Theatre on May 27, both with Sarah Mary Chadwick.