Ed & Phil in New Zealand for new 7 Worlds Collide

From Dead Air Space...

Ed and Philip will rejoin Neil Finn in a follow up to the acclaimed Seven Worlds Collide project at the end of the year. Together with members of the original line up and other artists, the ‘supergroup’ will record an album of entirely new material in support of international development organisation Oxfam.

The original Seven Worlds Collide line up was Neil Finn, Ed O’Brien, Phil Selway, guitar supremo Johnny Marr, Soul Coughing bassist Sebastian Steinberg, songwriter and violinist Lisa Germano, and Liam Finn. Other artists joining the project include Jeff Tweedy, John Stirrat, Glenn Kotche and Pat Sansone from Wilco, and New Zealand songwriters Bic Runga and Don McGlashan. Behind the mixing desk will be master recording engineer Jim Scott. More names will be added to the lineup in the coming weeks.

The album will be recorded over the next few months in Auckland and is due for release in 2009. Like its predecessor, the project will also see a series of concerts featuring many of the artists included in the line up. The shows will take place in Auckland early in the New Year. Details will be announced soon.

Neil Finn said “Seven years ago I invited a few friends and fellow musicians to do a special series of concerts in New Zealand under the banner Seven Worlds Collide. The concerts were an amazing experience for all of us and we are delighted to have found an opportunity to gather again, this time to expand the concept and the line up too. What will make these sessions particularly meaningful is that all the proceeds of this recording will go to support the continuing great work of Oxfam International.”

Sweet!! I've always known that RH and I were soulmates....now I have concrete evidence. Not 3 weeks after I booked my December trip to New Zealand do we get word that Ed and Phil will be in town recording with Neil Finn and friends for the newest in Finn's Seven Worlds Collide project. Fan-F'ing-tastic! This trip gets better and better. Now I wonder where I'll run into them...sledging in Queenstown? Hiking the Franz Josef Glacier? Kayaking around Abel Tasman? Drinking wine and surfing in Gisborne? Ah who am I kidding, I'm not gonna run into them (come on reverse psychology!!) Check out the clip of their rehearsal from the first project back in 2001...