The Crimea continue musical revolution

Original pioneers of the 'Free Download' strike again...

The Crimea are proud to announce the release of their second single from their free album "Secrets of the Witching Hour".

Long before Radiohead, Coldplay and the likes decided to give their music away for free, The Crimea were the original unwitting pioneers of this now 'revolutionary' new marketing concept.

They became the first established band to release a 'free album' in early 2007, a landmark industry event which led them to appear in Q magazine's "Top Five Moments That Changed Music History", receiving global news attention from the Hindu Times to the Wall Street Journal and everything in between.

The single "The 48a Waiting Steps" will be free to download on the week of release from Monday 30th June at 7digital.com. Fifty exclusive 7' inch vinyls with Davey's handwritten lyrics will also be available at Sister Reay records, Soho, London, where the band will be playing an in-store on the day of release.

The accompanying video is the first self made Crimea video where the band have been involved in the creative and writing element, with their mucky fingers all over the editing suite - in lead-singer Davey's own words; "it's like "the Deer hunter but shot in Highgate cemetery. I'd never have been able to make this on my last (major) label".

Maintaining a close relationship with their fans, The Crimea have also appealed to fans to make their own videos for "the 48a waiting steps", and are running a competition for the best fan made video on their YouTube page –www.youtube.com/thecrimea. The prize being the smashed guitar featured in the video!

The Crimea first came to light when Davey gave a demo to the legendary John Peel who happened to walk past as Davey was sweeping the streets of Soho - John played all 11 tracks and a band was born.

After leaving Warner Brothers in September 2006, the Crimea spent seven months recording the album "Secrets Of The Witching Hour" and released it for free online. It is still available to download at www.thecrimea.net and has recently surpassed 100,000 downloads. The album is free for all time, to all, with nothing required from the listeners in return - not even an email address.

In February 2008 The Crimea released their first single Loop a Loop from the free album. 16 different mixes were available on sixteen different music blogs ranging from America's trendiest to a 16 year old girl in a tower block in Stockholm. The single had tremendous success at radio and even featured on the latest Trident chewing gum advert, currently airing on UK terrestrial TV.

In July the Crimea are officially releasing "Secrets of the Witching Hour" in the USA before returning to the UK in August to play festivals.

The remaining 48a 'Waiting Steps' tour dates are:

June 9 - Enterprise, Camden
June 10-15 UK tour
June 16 - Sister Reay Records in-store, Soho, London 6 pm followed by late night launch party in secret posh speakeasy in central London (where fans can smoke). The phone number to ring will be revealed closer to the date.