Simon Little

It’s been rather manic here so apologies for the distinct lack of bloggery. I’ve been involved with a number of projects over the last few weeks which I thought I’d take a moment to let you all know about.

The main development over the last fortnight, as those of you who follow me on Twitter will know, has been the little Danish adventure with Maggie Reilly. I drove up to Glasgow in the new bass-mobile a couple of weeks ago for three days of rehearsals. The lineup this time was slightly different and consisted of the usual core band of Maggie, Stuart MacKillop on keyboards, Gordon Dougall on rhythm guitar and keyboards and me on bass with the new additions of Ali Murray on drums and Jim Condy on lead guitar. We added a few new songs to the set this time including Replay, Echoes and Talking To Myself (which has become a favourite of mine live). I had no idea how cold it got in Glasgow compared to here in London. My Winter wardrobe leaves a lot to be desired and I found myself battling with the elements on more than one occasion. But that was nohing compared to how cold it was in Denmark…

We arrived in Denmark on the 10th to be greeted with huge mounds of snow, the like of which I have never really experienced. Apparently the Danes have not had snow like this for at least seven years and this kind of cold weather was particularly unusual, but it transpires that they are far more adept at dealing with the snow than us Brits. In fact we had no trouble at all with the roads or flights. Deep joy.

Our first show was at Rampelys. This was one of the first venues I’d payed in Denmark when I first started coming over with Maggie and it was great to revisit the place. It’s a great little folky club in Silkeborg with a fantastic Mexican restaurant underneath it. Needless to say we visited said restaurant straight after the soundcheck. It’s one of those clubs that seem to be quite common in Denmark where it is run by a society that pool their resources and bring in the acts they want to see. We were sold out with about 250 in the audience and ha a great time.

We played the Stubhuset in Stovring the following day, a slightly larger arts centre type venue with a much larger stage. The stage at Rampelys is a tad small for our six-piece lineup (it was tricky when we played there as a five-piece several years ago!), so it was great to have a bit more space. We had another appreciative if somewhat quieter audience. Maggie and Jim added in a bluesy version of Jesus on the Mainline which went down well.

We moved on to the Kielgasten in Holstebro on the Saturday. This was another venue we’d played before and one of my favourites (in fact, it was the place we played after my journey from Hell from Paris with TDC if you remember that particular blog post..). It’s a great little rock club, probably around the same size as the others (250/300 capacity) and has just the right atmosphere for a proper gig. It is a mixture of seated areas and standing so you feel far more connected to the audience. My favourite venue in Denmark is still the Train in Aarhus, which is entirely standing. The Kielgasten was definitely the best show of the run; I’m looking forward to going back there soon.

By this point the weather had warmed up a little bit, although the snow was showing no sign of melting. Our final show was at the Huset in Nakskov. We were playing at four in the afternoon on Valentines day as part of some kind of Maggie Reilly Valentines spectacular! I must admit that I was slightly concerned about such an early show but it proved to be a lot of fun and the audience were really marvelous. We had to get up incredibly early to drive down from Holstebro and catch the ferry but it was worth it. The staff at the Huset were lovely and really looked after us. There’s a chance we’ll be returning there in May for a little warm-up show before the Danish festival we’re playing.

I really look forward to the little ferry crossings in Denmark. Sad but true. This is mainly due to the marvelous hotdogs they invariably sell on board. Anyone who nows me well will know that I am virtually always unable to resist a good hotdog/chillidog and these are definitely right up there with the best. I managed to convince all the non-veggie in the band to get in on the sausage action too. Actually, Gordon didn’t take much convincing…

We had a lot of fun on this little Danish run. It was great to be out on the road with the guys again. We should be back in May so keep you’re eyes peeled for upcoming dates on my MySpace page.

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been involved with a few other projects of late. A couple of days ago I recording some bass for my friends Sorana Santos and Chris Lane, aka Lyrebird for their forthcoming EP. Chris posted a little video of me recording on The Art of Staying Alive this morning. Thought you might like to have a look…

You can check out their music on Reverbnation and keep up with the progress of their EP on Twitter. They are well worth go to see if you get a chance…

Yesterday I found myself in the studio of a certain Mr Paul Pilot recording some saw for Duke upcoming tour dates and also for the fantastic band My First Tooth, who are incidentally also avid Twitterers. I recorded two tracks for their forthcoming album. Their music sounds great and Paul is doing a fine job of producing. I’ll let you know when it’s out so you can all go forth and purchase… Paul couldn’t resist having a go on the saw before I left and let’s face it, who could blame him?!

The big news this week is that I will be playing at The Bull’s Head in Barnes with the lovely Kate Eden in a quartet featuring pianist Alex Hutton and Josh Morrison on drums. Be there or be square people! We’ll also be playing The Spice of Life next Wednesday and the Ignite cafe at the Albert Hall on Friday 26th so there is no excuse for not making it down to at least one of the shows…

Anyway, must dash I’m afraid. I have sitar lesson number four this very afternoon and am in serious danger of being late if I continue writing. I hope you’ve enjoyed this post; feel free to share it all over the internet and leave lovely comments. I do as always appreciate your feedback.

Until next time x

Sorry, It’s Been Ages…

I know. I haven’t posted anything for such a long time. But I haven’t forgotten about you all. I promise!

I have been meaning to tell you all about what I’ve been up to recently but keep getting side-tracked with various projects along the way. Those of you that follow my (deluge of) updates on Twitter or Facebook will no doubt be fully aware of all that’s been going on recently. I’ll try to keep it fairly succinct (yeah, right!)…

Where do I start? Well, at the beginning of June Katy and I ventured over to her hometown in Jersey to play five shows at the Blue Note Bar. We played as a trio and brought pianist Alex Hutton along with us from London. The Blue Note is a great little music venue right in the centre of St. Helier. We played two sets of mostly standards to packed audiences every night. In fact we had to turn away about thirty punters on the last night! The week was a resounding success and we’re looking at going back soon for a repeat performance. We had such a great time in Jersey and it was great to play five nights in the same venue. Big thanks are due to everyone who helped make the week such a success; Jack, Ronni & Dave, Noel and Thomas. We got some great photos too, I may well publish a few more in another post.

Keep an eye on my MySpace page for upcoming dates with Kate Eden in London…

A few months before the Jersey trip we went into the studio to record a five-track EP called Lean Baby. I’ve literally just started a page on Last.fm where you can now listen to the tracks. Once again, Kate’s band features Alex Hutton on piano, me on bass and drummer Josh Morrison. What are you waiting for? Go and have a listen…

The touring with Clare Teal and Lea DeLaria has been storming ahead over the last few months. I’m presuming you all saw the little video I posted here last time from the Queen Elizabeth Hall? If you didn’t, you can find it Here. I’ve been up and down the country with both bands (I wound up playing at the Hull Truck Theatre twice in one month!) and have done an awful lot of driving. This has once again taken it’s toll on the bass-mobile and another small fortune has been spent keeping the poor thing on the road…

Some highlights? Let me see… The last two ‘Wall To Wall’ shows with Lea at the Pizza Express Dean Street have been fantastic. In May we played the Gershwin songbook with Ian Shaw and a couple of weeks ago we did songs from the movies with Clare Martin. It was one of the best shows yet. Next month we’re reuniting The Dirty Martinis to play some serious 50’s lounge.. you’ve got to come along to this one. We’ve got Simon Allen and Gabriel Garrick in the band. Tuesday July 21st at the Pizza Express.. stick it in your diaries!

We’ve just got back from two gigs with Clare last week, in Stockton-on-Tees and Loughborough. The tour has been going great. We’re still promoting our new live album Clare Teal Live At Ebeneezer Chapel, which is now definitely available on Clare’s website Here. We’re off to play the Bansko International Jazz Festival in Bulgaria in August. So expect a little write-up afterwards on the blog…

The last couple of weeks have been rather exciting too. The wonderful new album from The Duckworth Lewis Method was released in the UK on Monday. Neil and Thomas asked me to come to play in the band alongside Tim Weller from TDC and guitarist Tosh Flood from Pugwash. The album has already caused quite a storm in the press and made album of the week on Absolute radio last week. We played the album launch show last night at The Oval. The whole event was sponsored by The Times, who gave away 150 pairs of tickets in an online competition. Plus we had all the journalists of course. Even the torrential rainstorm didn’t stop folks from turning out to see us play the entire album from start to finish (!), as well as a couple of old favourites in the encore. Had a great time.

We’ll be playing a little in-store show at Rough Trade East London on Monday 13th, and then we’re off to play Latitude next Friday. I’m not sure what’s going to happen after that, but do keep an eye on their website (and of course my MySpace page!) for any future dates. Who knows, there might even be a tour! Let’s hope so. In the meantime, go out and buy the album. It’s ever so good…

There’s also some gigs with Duke Special on the horizon. The seven-piece lineup from the Irish tour last year will be playing Peter’s DukeBox Festival in Belfast on 29th August and Greenbelt on the 30th. There should be a couple of other dates too in August/September (hopefully including something in London) so once again, keep your eyes peeled and you ears to the ground. I’m also going to be playing for Mother Courage and her Children at The National Theatre with the Duke boys in the autumn. Peter has been commissioned to write the score and is beavering away on the songs right now. There’s a little more info on the National Theatre’s website…

Ah.. busy days! Pretty sure I’m meant to be learning some songs for somebody right now. Might have to leave you for now folks. Thanks once again to all of you subscribers out there…

See you soon I hope.

Neil has written some fantastic new songs and we had a great time working on the rhythm tracks. Obviously I can’t say too much at this stage as it’s not finished. I’m expecting an Autumn release. Judging by the work done so far it’s going to be a fantastic record and definitely one to look out for later this year. I wound up playing my Warwick FNA Jazzman V for virtually the whole album this time. I might do a mini-post on this soon for the guitar geeks and gear-heads among you as it gives me no end of pleasure when I’m finally allowed to play all my favourite instruments on the record whist I’m often banned from using them live because of the way they look! I’m hoping we’ll be out touring again sometime later this year… fingers crossed!

Two weeks ago I had the great honour of being asked to play a last minute show with the wonderful Carleen Anderson at the new Kommedia in Bath. I’ve been a fan of Carleen since her days with The Young Disciples. It’s always so exciting when you get to play one of your favourite tunes with the artist that wrote it and made it famous (playing Brick with Ben Folds is still one of the highlights of my career). Playing Apparently Nothin’ and Mama Said with Carleen was a real joy. There was a lot of tunes to learn in a very short space of time (ie; a couple of days to learn the whole set) which was a bit of a scramble but it was so worth the effort. I really do love playing that kind of music and very rarely get the chance. 

Carleen and her band really made me feel welcome and were incredibly supportive. Big thanks to Mark Edwards (yes, The Invisible Birdman!) for getting me in. Really hoping we get to play some more shows together sometime soon.

More recently, I’ve been over in Box recording a live album with Clare Teal. We spent a couple of days rehearsing some new tunes and arrangements for the session.  Led by our new musical director Grant Windsor, the recording also featured Clare’s regular touring band of Chris Dagley on drums with Colin and AD on backing vocals. 

Our carefully laid plans very nearly came unstuck on Friday morning when we all woke up to some incredibly heavy snowfall from the previous night. It took all morning for Clare and Grant to get over to Box from Bath because of the snow and we also had a very long wait with the piano tuner coming over from Bristol later on. Luckily things came together just as the audience started to arrive, although we missed a few key audience members due to the weather. 

The show went really well and the recording sounds great. We’re hoping the live album will be ready for Clare’s tour which starts in March with four nights at Ronnie Scotts. You can see the full list of shows on my MySpace page.

I’m going to be out touring with both Clare and Lea Delaria through March and April. This does unfortunately mean that I won’t be out with Duke Special for his UK dates at the end of April, but I’m hoping to play some more dates with him later on in the year. I went to see Pete and Chip play at the Proud Gallery in Camden a few weeks ago and had such a great time. It never ceases to amaze me how two musicians can create such a massive and varied sound. I was blown away by the show; truly inspirational. Pete will be out touring with a four-piece band the last week in April and I seriously recommend you get yourselves down to at least one of his shows.

Until next time x