The Old Ceremony

Infobox musical artist 2
Name = The Old Ceremony


Background = group_or_band
Origin = flagicon|United States Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Instruments = Guitar, Bass guitar, Vibraphones, Keyboards, Cello, Violin
Genre = Pop-noir, Rock
Years_active = 2004 – Present
Label = sonaBLAST! Records
URL = [http://www.theoldceremony.com/ theoldceremony.com]
Current_members = Django Haskins Dan Hall Mark Simonsen James Wallace Matt Brandau
Josh Starmer Gabriele Pelli Daniel Hart
Past_members =

The Old Ceremony is a Chapel Hill, North Carolina pop-noir musical group fronted by Django Haskins. Formed in 2004, the group has released two full-length albums, "Our One Mistake", on sonaBLAST! Records, and "The Old Ceremony", on their own label, Alyosha Records. Through unique live performances, radio airplay, and positive critical reviews, the group has risen to local prominence and is planning a 2007 tour of the Eastern US.

Formation of the group

In the summer of 2004, Django Haskins, then a member of North Carolina rock supergroup International Orange, decided to form a 'mini-orchestra' to explore music that would be difficult to play in a rock orientation. For this effort, Haskins gathered numerous musical luminaries from the NC Triangle region and the end result was dubbed 'The Old Ceremony,' after Leonard Cohen's 1975 album, "New Skin for the Old Ceremony".

The fledgling group was soon granted an extended residency at Chapel Hill's West End Wine Bar, where they worked to develop their unique sound and refine their musical skills. These residency performances became popular due to the group's unusual instrumentation and on-stage presence (all band members wore suits) and the group soon gained a local following. Several months after their first residency, the group recorded and released their first full-length album, "The Old Ceremony".

Touring and the second album

Soon after releasing their first album, the group embarked upon a tour of North Carolina and the Eastern US, playing venues such as Joe's Pub and IOTA. At one of their New York performances, the group attracted the attention of filmmaker Gill Holland, who offered the group a contract on his record label, sonaBLAST! Records. The contract was accepted, and in 2006, the group released their second album, "Our One Mistake", on this record label.

Discography

*"Our One Mistake" (sonaBLAST! Records, 2006)
*"The Old Ceremony" (Alyosha Records, 2005)

External links

* [http://www.theoldceremony.com Official Band Site]
* [http://www.newsobserver.com/669/story/494859.html Raleigh News & Observer article featuring the group]
* [http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A38266 Independent Weekly article reviewing "Our One Mistake"]
* [http://www.chapelhillnews.com/112/story/2723.html Chapel Hill News article regarding "Our One Mistake"]
* [http://www.djangohaskins.com/toc/OldCeremony-BIO.pdf Official band bio (PDF format)]
* [http://georgegraham.com/reviews/ceremony.html The Graham Weekly Album Review of "Our One Mistake" (text and RealAudio)]
* [http://www.breakthruradio.com/index.php?b=artist.php?id=117 BreakThru Radio- Artist of The Week]