WATCHHOUSE
Today Love Police regret to announce that the tour by US band, Watchhouse, has been cancelled due to health issues with Emily Frantz, one half of the duo. The band was due to perform on their first Australian tour starting next week and were playing Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Castlemaine and this year’s Out On The Weekend festival. Please be patient while we get ticketing refunds in place and look for information from the relevant venue and ticketing agencies. The band will be looking to get to Australia at some point in the future, but with uncertain scheduling, feel it best to cancel at this time.
Statement from the band - Well y’all, it’s been a year. This past weekend Emily had emergency surgery to stop hemorrhaging caused by an ectopic pregnancy. It was scary and we’re so glad we were home and could get life saving care right away. Sadly this means we can’t travel to Australia next week, and for now those shows are cancelled/refunded until we can figure out a good time to go for it. Our Greenville, SC and Raleigh, NC duo shows will be pushed by just a few weeks so we can let both these hurricanes pass.
Until recently known as Mandolin Orange, WATCHHOUSE has long been on many a local roots, country and folk fan’s radar, and their first Australian theatre, taking in clubs, theatres and Melbourne’s Out On The Weekend Festival, has long been anticipated.
A duo, formed in North Carolina in 2009 by Andrew Marlin and fiddler Emily Frantz, Mandolin Orange became new flag bearers of the contemporary folk world, releasing five acclaimed albums and rising over the next decade to fill venues like Nashville’s famed Ryman Theatre, then amphitheatres the size of Red Rocks. But by 2019, Andrew and Emily, having recently had their first child, realised they needed a change. It may seemingly have just come down to the name, which no longer felt right, but in reality – and as revealed by album number six, simply entitled Watchhouse - the new name represents their reinvention as a band more willing to experiment within the confines of their acoustic based sound.
Watchhouse's Australian tour will follow their North American tour, undertaken with Punch Brothers and Sarah Jarosz, under the banner of American Acoustic.
BT from Love Police says “I was introduced to this band by an agent friend of mine years ago. I’ve watched them develop and grow and grow in their country. They are a BIG band there now. It took a long while to get a tour sorted, then Covid hit and that got canned but here we finally are. I think a lot of people know their music, but maybe don’t know who they are. They are all over Spotify playlists and have many, many local listeners. Expect the shows to be Gillian and David like I reckon. We think there is an excellent future for this band here. Be amongst their first shows to join the story.
TOUR IS CANCELLED. TICKET HOLDERS WILL BE CONTACTED BY THE RELEVANT TICKETING AGENCIES AND VENUE FOR A REFUND
OCTOBER
WED 5 – FACTORY THEATRE, SYDNEY, NSW
FRI 7 – PRINCESS THEATRE, BRISBANE, QLD
SAT 8 – OUT ON THE WEEKEND, MELBOURNE, VIC
SUN 9 – THEATRE ROYAL, CASTLEMAINE, VIC
TUES 11 – MELBOURNE RECITAL CENTRE, VIC