Thought I’d drop a quick post to let you all know about two great shows we’ve got coming up the Hideaway in Streatham this week.
On Thursday we have our monthly showcase gig Voice. We have six vocalists performing this month including Helen Theophanous, Mark Jennett, Halima Ihonde, Melissa Cantzlaar, Lorna Marshall and Arorah, plus our very special guest for the evening Anthony Strong. The band features myself, Janette Mason on piano and Frank Tontoh on drums. promises to be a hoot.
Then on Saturday we have our bi-monthly Diva show where we feature four excellent vocalists and a wide variety of music. This time we have Martin France on drums and Paul Booth on sax in the house band. The featured vocalists are Juliet Roberts, David McAlmont, Nina Ferro and Sarah Ellen Hughes. Many of you have probably seen me play with Nina before in her band so you all know how awesome she is. We were lucky enough to have her guest at Lea DeLaria’s Wall To Wall show at Pizza Express Dean Street last Tuesday which was one of the best shows there yet. And I am so excited to be playing with David McAlmont. I’ve been a massive fan of his since the first McAlmont & Butler album came out in the nineties and have wanted to play with him forever. I really hope he does Yes.
So there you go. You should come to both shows. Just bring tents and camp out in the Hideaway carpark Thursday to Saturday. Actually don’t do that. I shouldn’t think the Hideaway would thank me for that suggestion. Or Streatham Council for that matter.
Just come to the shows. See you there x
ps. Here’s a video from the last show I did with Nina Ferro at Hideaway. This is Lesson Learned..
It’s that time of the year again. The time of year when I release another solo album. But this one is different. This one is acoustic. My third solo album [un]plugged is officially out now and available for download right here.
Well, I say acoustic. As the title suggests it’s not entirely acoustic in the traditional sense. The entire record was made using my new Breedlove acoustic bass and my usual live-looping setup. This time I’ve used minimal effects from the Pod X3 Pro and Lexicon MPX G2, concentrating on bringing out the natural sound of the instrument. I’ve been blogging about the writing/recording process quite a bit, so hopefully you’re all familiar with how I came to record an acoustic record after my previous offerings. This album is quite different.
I mastered the album yesterday with Steve Alexander (the other half of Little Alex). The ceremonial naming of the tunes ritual was performed last week, with a couple of interesting results. The final track listing is as follows:
frostbite
into the out
lie down & be counted
repetition is a form of change
sigismund
kalimba
breathe
the avant gardener
midas’ barber
And just like The Knowledge of Things To Come and the Rejectamenta EP the music here is presented in glorious 24-bit better-than-CD quality for your listening pleasure. You can stream the whole album right here if you fancy…
If you like the album, please click the ‘Like’ button on the Bandcamp page (the music tab above will magically transport you there), tweet about it and share the player on your Facebook profiles, blogs etc. This will be such a big help in spreading the word. And you’ll know who amongst your friends will like this music much better than I will…
I really hope you all enjoy this record. If you’re a music blogger and want to write a review then let let me know and I’ll send you a copy. Every little helps.
Hello folks,
This week I spent two days at BBC Maida Vale studios as part of the band for the Barnados Oldie Composers songwiting competition sessions. The last time I worked with Barnados we were recording the top four songs from their Young Composers competition (see the original blog post here) and the process was the same this time. Songwriters were asked to submit their material to the star-studded panel of judges who chose their top four songs to be recorded at Maida Vale by professional musicians. The competition was organized by the wonderful Hellen Bach and Norman Macintosh of Charity Goods, and the sessions were produced by my good friend AD Chivers.
We had a great lineup for the sessions, which were on Monday and the following Sunday. We had Nick Mason and Steve Rushton on drums, Grant Windsor on piano, Marcus Bonfanti on guitars, the string quartet Bond and VocalWorks. There was even a string section coming in on Monday night. A really big production all round. Lead vocals were provided by Anthony Head, FTW and our very own Clare Teal.
Once the tracks are mixed and mastered they will be available for download to raise money for Barnados. Which is where you come in…
I shall of course let you know when the tracks become available. The songs were written by Trevor Wiles & Paul Hadler, Marina Florance, John Mackfall and Maggie Duffy. The songwriter with the most downloads by the deadline will win the competition. More information on the contest and how you can help this great cause can be found at the Oldie Composers website.
Rather than harp on about the session I thought it would be far more interesting for me to post a little photoblog. So here’s a gallery of some of the pictures I took from the two days at Maida Vale. I hope you like them.
Here’s a little video I shot of Vocalworks recording their backing for Marina Florence’s Cry…
And here’s a little video of FTW running through some of Loves Forever by Trevor Wiles & Paul Hadler with Grant…
Until next time. Which will be very soon indeed as my third solo album [un]plugged was mastered today with Steve Alexander and as I type the tracks are being uploaded to my Bandcamp page ready for release. Watch this space for the big announcement. Probably tomorrow in fact as I cannot bear to sit on it any longer and want to get it out there for you all to hear…
