× Robert Ellis hits the road with EELS this month and returns for headline tour in October

Robert Ellis hits the road with EELS this month and returns for headline tour in October

13-08-2019

It's not a surprise to many that Robert Ellis is a big fan of NASA and for that matter the moon landing. In celebration of Apollo 11, the spaceflight that brought Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the moon 50 years ago, Robert Ellis launches himself into orbit with this weird, wonderful cover of Jonathan King’s mid-Sixties Everyone's Gone to the Moon. The video finds Ellis alone, playing a baby grand in a space-themed sequined suit, channeling the out-there spirit of piano pounders like Elton John:

Robert Ellis has also brought us the Texas Piano Man, a character or persona that isn’t made up whole cloth, but rather a large projection of Ellis’ wilder inclinations. A guy who named his publishing company Southern Liberace has embraced the idea of being a Rocket Man from Space City. Texas Piano Man, Robert's new album, is a record that nods at its honky tonk roots set by a guitarist as he finds more room to roam while playing a stationary instrument and pulls from a tradition set by Billy Joel, Leon Russell and Elton John. Guys who sat at that large stationary instrument, and plinked away at it in a manner that balanced honesty and mythology.

Should the feelings come across as too intimate on paper, the presentation by the Texas Piano Man sells it with feral abandon and pop majesty, “screaming like an animal and rattling your cage,” as he puts it in one song before bringing in some pretty cooing vocals that remind of Brian Wilson’s work. Putting down his guitar and sitting at the piano awakened something, and Ellis likens the musical experience to being behind the wheel of “a rock solid fucking muscle car.” It’s a heavy thing, with beautiful lines. Ellis describes the Texas Piano Man as the guy who wears the tuxedo everywhere. If there’s a ribbon to be cut, he’s there. A groundbreaking? He’ll hold the shovel and deal with the dirty suit later. He’ll christen your ship, and he won’t judge your yacht rock.

This month Robert Ellis will join EELS º on a number of shows across Europe to be followed by a full band headlining tour in the fall:

19/08: Nottingham, UK - Rock City º
20/08: Southampton, UK - O2 Guildhall º
21/08: London, UK - Hammersmith Eventim Apollo º
24/08: Amsterdam, NL - Once In A Blue Moon
25/08: Leipzig, DE - Haus Auensee º
27/08: Copenhagen, DK - The Grey Hall º
28/08: Oslo, NO - Rockefeller º
29/08: Stockholm, SWE - Debaser Medis º
19/10:Utrecht, NL - Ramblin' Roots
21/10: Shipley, UK - Caroline Social Club
22/10: Liverpool, UK - Phase One
23/10: Glasgow, UK - The Blue Arrow
24/10: Newcastle, UK - The Cluny 2
25/10: London, UK - The Lexington
28/10: Copenhagen, DK - Ideal Bar
29/10: Oslo, NO - John Dee
30/10: Göteborg, SWE - Pustervik/Oceanen
31/10: Stockholm, SWE - Bryggarsalen
01/11: Malmö, SWE - Folk å Rock
02/11: Groningen, NL - Take Root
03/11: Leuven, BE - 30CC

 

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