Stanley Brinks began performing officially as André Herman Düne in 1999, sharing lead vocals, guitar playing and songwriting with his brother David in the band Herman Düne for a number of years. They released several albums and toured extensively in UK, gaining and owing a lot to great support from John Peel. He has used many monikers for various side-projects, but since leaving Herman Düne in 2006, he has been known solely as Stanley Brinks. Born in Paris, Stan has been living between New York, San Francisco, Malta and Berlin for about a decade, always on the move. He has recorded more than 100 albums, collaborated with the New York Antifolk scene on several occasions, recorded and toured with traditional Norwegian musicians, and played a lot with The Wave Pictures.

The Wave Pictures are David Tattersall, Franic Rozycki and Jonny “Huddersfield” Helm. Formed in 1998 when Franic and David lived in a village called Wymeswold, the band played with several drummers until Jonny became a permanent member in 2003 replacing Hugh J Noble. In the beginning the band learned to play together by covering Jonathan Richman songs but soon David was writing lots of original material. They have since released five studio albums to critical acclaim and played numerous sessions on BBC 6 Music, Radio 1 and Xfm. The interest generated by these recordings has enabled The Wave Pictures to play shows all over the world with artists including Jeffrey Lewis, Darren Hayman, Stanley Brinks, Freschard and Herman Dune.

Selected press for Stanley Brinks and The Wave Pictures

"There's an electricity about their fourth joint album, especially the live-in-the-room playing and Brinks' fallen choirboy vocals. The campfire singalongs Brighton and Berlin dispense boozy wisdom from Brinks' 20-year touring lifestyle, and have an infectious Jonathan Richman-via-Cornershop vibe. Rootsier still, My Camel finds Brinks digging into his Moroccan background with a North African penny whistle, while Fire To My Mind is an irresistible calypso. All told: an absolute joy." Q [4/5]

"Brinks stumbles into leftfield loveliness with elevated fare like 'Fire To My Mind' or 'Think About You', sounding like a junk shop jug-band playing a new strain of Middle Eastern calypso" Uncut [6/10]

"quietly charming" Pitchfork

"There’s no mistaking the unique sound of Stanley Brinks and The Wave Pictures in every single note on My Ass, but the overall mood seems to be uncharacteristically downbeat. A certain amount of that can, no doubt, be ascribed to the rigours of life on the road, of always acting out the trope of ‘the guitar man’ – and perhaps there’s also a lesson to be learned about hitting the studio the morning after you finish touring – but here the music seems to be tempered with a growing realisation that the sting in the tail of a nomadic life is the intractability of maintaining any kind of long-term, loving relationship. Nevertheless, it’s a powerfully honest album which, when played back-to-back with Gin, creates an almost perfect soundtrack to the humdrum, everyday existence of many people, to the ups and downs of lives lived to the fullest extent possible and, for that alone, My Ass is definitely something to be cherished." Folk Radio

"The Wave Pictures' classy post-punkish bite is a great foil to Brinks' whimsy on these unhinged, loose-limbed story songs. Sometimes gin makes you win as much as sin." NME

"typically rich in a variety of sounds and structures; the songs are looser, more playful and all the more endearing because of it" Loud and Quiet

"This is nerve-jangling, hard-surfaced, soft-centred funny, shot through with sadness. The new Lost Boys, the Unlikliest Lads." Rock n Reel [4/5]

"Gin rises above the swiftness of its creation, thanks to these few detours that Brinks and The Wave Pictures take around their usual territory. The fact that the catchiest track from this session – the single ‘Orange Juice’ – is not included just underlines that these guys seem to seamlessly slot together when they hit the studio" Drowned In Sound

"‘Parking Lots”’has a classic Wave Pictures groove, but ‘No Goodbyes’ has a brooding intensity I don't automatically associate with them. Instead of the dizzying guitars, a single chord is thrashed over and over. Brinks' vocal sound winsome, but with a knowing creepiness, as he spits out “I know better than to think too much”. Johnny Helm's furious drumming steals the show as the song draws to its end. 'Gin' reaches a delightful conclusion with the sweet ballad, “Not to Kiss You”, where Brinks writes sadly of a non-quite love affair, around a melody that could have fallen off Dylan's 'Blonde On Blonde'. It's a delightful end to an invigorating record." Penny Black Music

"human, imperfect and with mistakes that aren't ironed out but laid bare to be accepted rather than ridiculed. It's shambolic – yes, but still full of energy and lyrical idiosyncrasies that shine through" Americana UK

"sounds like Herman Dune when they were charmingly naïve and elegantly simple, a rock’n’roll strum with an easy rhythm, anthemic chorus and some memorable lyrics... a great, singalong single that promises much for forthcoming album Gin" Sounds XP

"This is massively catchy. You’ll never be able to stop singing it. Over a ramshackle Jonathan Richman style lollop they advise us that basically everything is shit but they’ll get by with alcohol, tobacco, caffeine ephedrine and orange juice." Norman Records [8/10]

BBC 6 Music session with Marc Riley [broadcast 6th March 2014]

Get in touch!
For press/radio: Jamie: jamie AT wallofsoundpr.co.uk
For live bookings: Franic: thewavepictures AT hotmail.com
For Stan: radicalbaboon AT gmail.com