Thought I should drop a quick post to keep you up to date with the various goings ons…
Just got back from a whistlestop trip to Poland. We were revisiting the little festival we played a few years ago (in fact, I blogged about it at the time). We were playing again at the Amfiteatre Dolina Charlotta near the town of Slupsk (which is apparently pronounced ‘swoopsk’ I discovered). It’s a lovely little place by a lake and this time we got to stay in the lovely hotel next to the gig that they were still building last time.
The rest of the band arrived in Poland the night before but I left the house at 5am to catch the early flight. we soundchecked in the afternoon, which is when it became apparent that the weather in Slupsk is much much colder than at home…
Gordon was provided with exactly the wrong kind of Nord keyboard and spent a lot of the soundcheck trying to program up a few sounds for the gig. We were playing before Bonnie Tyler, which was great. We had to reshuffle the stage completely as her drummer flatly refused to share the (hired) drumkit. But we got there in the end…
The gig was a lot of fun and the crowd were fantastic. The only problem was the temperature onstage. It was absolutely freezing and pretty windy. None of us managed to warm up all all through the 90-minute set, and I’m pretty sure the cold I’m suffering with right now is as a result of that gig…
We’ll be returning to Poland in June for another show. Not sure where it is yet but it’s quite near Krakow apparently.
In other news, Clare Teal’s new album Hey Hocomes out May 9th. Featuring me (mostly) on bass with Grant and Ben. We’re working our way through the ‘Great British Songbook’ with songs from Noel Coward to Moloko and Snow Patrol. You can preorder the album at Amazon if you simply can’t bear the wait…
We’ll be playing in Jersey this Sunday and we’ll also be only This Morning on Friday with Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford, so don’t forget to tune in…
And finally, as I mentioned in my last post here; my new EP Rejectamentais available for download on the music page, where you can also stream the whole EP in full. Hope you like it. I’ve had some great feedback so far. In fact, here’s the player embedded from Bandcamp so you can stream it right here. I’d love to hear your comments…
As many of you know I spent last week up in Glasgow with the Maggie Reilly band. We played two shows at the Tron Theatre on Friday and Saturday as part of the first ever Limelight Festival.
Limelight is Scotland’s first professional music production company run by people with impairments and the UK’s leading producer of high quality inclusive music. The company specialises in raising the profile of disabled artists in the mainstream music and theatre industries. It was set up originally in 1989 as Sounds of Progress by Gordon Dougal (who plays keyboards and guitar with Maggie)Â with the main aim to bring professional musicians with impairments into the mainstream. Gordon stated in an interview with the Herald Scotland
“part of that challenge is to do with getting the mainstream to look beyond their prejudices and preconceptions about performers with disabilities. That’s why, when we changed the name to Limelight and decided to have a music festival as a launch event, we wanted our artists playing alongside mainstream names, proving to audiences – and to themselves – that they have the talent, the professionalism, the high performance standards to be out there.â€
We spent Wednesday and Thursday rehearsing in Glasgow and then played on the Friday and Saturday. This time we had Tony Soave from The Silencers on drums alongside the usual lineup of myself, Davie Dunsmuir, Stuart MacKillop and Gordon. We also had a couple of special guests from previous lineups; on Friday we were joined by guitarist Morph and Saturday featured Brian McNeill.
These were to be the first UK shows Maggie has played for almost twenty years. Mainly she tours around Europe; more recently concentrating on Germany and Scandinavia. We added a few of the old Cado Belle songs to the set including Airport Shutdown, Got To Love and Stone’s Throw From Nowhere. Both nights were recorded and Saturday’s show was filmed so hopefully I’ll have some footage to show you sometime in the near future when it’s been edited. There is talk of a possible live album but I guess it all depends on what the recordings came out like…
Hopefully these shows will be the beginning of Maggie’s return to UK touring. I’m hoping we’ll actually play in London so people I know will actually see me play with Maggie!! Both nights at the Tron were a resounding success and I’m looking forward to getting back on the road..
Incidentally, the one place I have to go whenever in Glasgow is the fantastic Trans-Europe Cafe behind the Tron. They do the best breakfast anywhere and I highly recommend you check it out next time you’re in the general vicinity… I went there three days on the trot and it kept me going through the long days of hanging about 🙂
It’s a little late now but happy new year all the same.
Had a funny start to the year as I was struck down with the flu literally as my new year’s eve gig ended, so I managed to spend the entire first week of the new year in bed. Not a great start but things could only get better…
As indeed they did! As many of you know I have just returned from an all-too-short trip to San Diego. The Clare Teal band was asked to play at a rather swanky fundraiser for the San Diego Symphony up in La Jolla. So off we went at the beginning of last week for a three night jaunt halfway around the world all in the name of jazz…
We had such a great time. We were staying at La Valencia right in the middle of La Jolla. The weather was gorgeous and it was such a treat to escape from the cold and rain at home for a few days. We found an excellent breakfast spot called Cody‘s which we visited on several occasions (check out the eggs benedict and the french toast if you’re in the area- they rock!) and spent an inordinate amount of time seal-watching at the beach.
The gig itself was incredible. The venue was a purpose built construction over the host’s swimming pool decorated floor to ceiling in hand-made white paper flowers. The whole room was lit to change colour throughout the evening and during our set and the effect was mesmerizing. The guests’ evening began with a private recital from virtuoso pianist Lang Lang, after which they were brought to our venue and treated to a three course dinner accompanied by a jazz set from the trio; closely followed by a set from Clare. It really was a great night and we were really well looked after by the hosts.
So what other news? I hear you ask.
Well, Duke Special has a new 3-track EP Duke Special Sings The Songs of Ruby Murray. It is available at the Dukestore and all profits go to Depaul Ireland. It really is a lovely EP so go order your copy now..
Clare Teal’s latest album is now finished and due for release in March. Watch this space!!
And finally, the Little Alex project is well under way now. It is a collaboration between me and the fantastic drummer Steve Alexander. You can follow our escapades via Twitter as well as the Facebook page (don’t forget to click the Like button!). We are currently working on tunes combining looped bass (a la Mandala) with Steve’s live drums. The demos we’ve come up with so far sound great and we’re working towards an EP to be out sometime soon this year.
So it’s all happening folks. If you’re around tomorrow night I’ll be playing at The Spice of Life in Soho with Nina Ferro. See you there…
