Sep 24 2012

Two Shows At Hideaway This Week!! Voice and Diva

Hello folks,

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..


Jun 26 2012

It’s Been A Busy Week…

Thought I’d drop a quick post letting you all know what’s been going on this week. It’s been rather hectic…

Having performed over 80 shows of The Comedy Of Errors at the National Theatre, our faux Romanian busking band was asked back to play for NT Connections. This is an annual festival of youth theatre which culminates at the National with ten plays performed over five days by ten different companies. So Ian Watson, Simon Parrish and I donned our tracksuits for one last hurrah and took to the streets of the Southbank (and the Cottesloe foyer..) and bothered the general public with loud shouty Romanian renditions of pop songs. It was rather good fun…

On Friday night the Nina Ferro band took over Hideaway in Streatham. This was the first time we’d played the new set live together since Nina toured it in Australia. I managed to get a few tracks filmed and posted them up on my YouTube channel. Thought I’d post my favourite one here just for you. This is Lesson Learned by Alicia Keys and John Mayer…

I’m playing at The Spice of Life in Soho tomorrow night with Nina on a gig featuring our good friend Kellie Santin who’s back from Australia for a bit. You should all come down.

And the final kids show from Lea DeLaria and Janette Mason Boom Boom’s Bow is at Hideaway this Saturday lunchtime. But fear not if you do not have children to bring along; we will be playing a proper show in the evening with our band The Dirty Martinis. Do not miss this show!! We rarely get to play as the Martinis (the next show will be at the Swanage Jazz festival in July) so it’s a great opportunity to see the full band at this fantastic venue.

Hopefully see you at a show soon 😉

ps. For those of you following the progress of the Barnardos Oldie Composers, our very own Anthony Head will be performing Marina Florence’s Cry live on This Morning tomorrow. Remember you can download the EP from iTunes and the Charity Goods website and all proceeds go to Barnardos.


May 2 2012

Voice at the Hideaway Launch Tomorrow!

Hello folks

Just a quick post to let you know about an exciting new night we’re starting over at the fabulous Hideaway in Streatham, which launches tomorrow night Thursday May 3rd!

The idea is to showcase new and emerging vocalists and give them a chance to perform their material in a great venue. If you haven’t been to Hideaway yet, frankly you’re missing out. Recently voted Venue of the Year at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards, this relatively new club is fast becoming the capitol’s premier jazz venue. And the food is bloody excellent…

The Voice shows will be on the third Thursday every month, but we’re launching the night tomorrow (3rd May, and we’ll be back again on the 24th). The band will feature Janette Mason on piano/keyboards, me on bass (obviously) and Frank Tontoh on drums. We’ve got some great singers coming down tomorrow including Polly Gibbons, Fran Lewis and Peter Borthwick. A great mix of jazz, soul and blues. It’s gonna be great so you should all come down. And because it’s the launch tomorrow; it’s free entry!!

See you all there.