Howie Payne, the driving force behind Liverpool group The Stands, has released the demos of 10 brand new tracks. ‘High Times, Home Recordings’ is available to download free from www.musicglue.com/howiepayne

2017 will see Payne release the long-awaited follow-up to his 2009 solo debut album ‘Bright Light Ballads’. Originally released under his full name of Howard Elliott Payne, ‘Bright Light Ballads’ was recorded and mixed in just seven days on an 8-track tape machine with influential producer Ethan Johns (Ryan Adams/Kings Of Leon/Ray Lamontagne). Rootsy and unearthly, raw and visceral, and at times startlingly tender, ‘Bright Light Ballads’ richly deserves its status as a cult classic. Never before available on vinyl, a limited edition remastered heavyweight vinyl LP will be released on 9^th December. Copies are available for pre-order now from www.pledgemusic.com/howiepayne

After the original release of ‘Bright Light Ballads’, which followed a decade of near constant live performances, Payne took a hiatus from touring and recording to focus on songwriting and production. Since then he has worked with a whole host of artists, while others recorded his work, most notably Ren Harvieu, whose critically acclaimed 2012 top 5 LP ‘Through The Night’ contains no less than 5 songs written by Payne.

“I was happy for a while just writing songs, hanging out and making music with great people and

bands,” says Payne. “But then I wrote a couple of new songs I got really excited about, some of the best songs I’ve ever written, and I’m buzzing about the idea of recording them, and playing them out on the road.”

Payne recently completed his first headline solo tour since 2010 and has just announced another short tour for February 2017