Many of you know that I have been playing with Maggie Reilly for many years now. Some of you may have even been lucky enough to actually see the band play live at some point. But for those of you in the UK the opportunity to see the band has been a little scarce shall we say. Aside from a couple of small shows at the Tron Theatre a few years ago I have never played a UK show with Maggie. We tend to tour around Germany and Scandanivia for the most part. But the wait is finally over boys and girls!
Next Monday 16th December we are playing a show at Bush Hall in Shepherds Bush to celebrate the release of Maggie’s new record Heaven Sent.Â
Here’s a little video of us playing her latest single Juliet at a radio concert in Hamburg a couple of months ago, in case you haven’t heard Maggie before. I’m sure you have…
Seriously don’t miss this show if you can make it. I’m sure there will be more UK dates to follow next year but for the time being it’s the only one planned and I’ve certainly waited a long time for this one! The band features Stuart MacKillop on keyboards, Davie Dunsmuir on guitar, and Tony Soave on drums.
Tickets are £15.00 and can be purchased online via the Bush Hall website. Hopefully see you all there!
Now I realise that I’ve yet to post anything on the blog from the Duckworth Lewis Method tour which ended a couple of weeks ago but I’ve barely been home in between that and the recent Maggie Reilly radio tour in Germany. I shall sort this out soon enough don’t you worry…
We spent a week and a half driving across Germany playing a series of live radio concerts, many of which were also video streamed live over the internet. I did my best to post links to the live streams over on my Facebook page and Twitter so hopefully some of you watched one of the shows. There are a bunch of photos from the first show in Erfurt on the MDR page if you fancy having a look.
So Maggie’s brand new album Heaven Sent is officially out now so you can go and grab yourself a copy. You can order a CD HERE.
The first single from the album is called Juliet. And as if by magic, here’s a video from our Hamburg radio show!
We heading to Finland next week to five shows. Looks like we’re playing some rather lovely venues. Here’s the rundown:
Well it’s been a fortnight since I released my new solo album The Knowledge of Things To Come on Bandcamp and iTunes. So far I’ve had a very positive response from all concerned.
I had a lovely review from Oliver Arditi on the fantastic eBurban site. I was really pleased to get a review on eBurban as I really like that site and they have some great writers working for them. Oliver’s closing comments:
Little presents a series of atmospheres, a selection of airs for us to inhale. They do not take us to extreme places: there is a tang of melancholy, but there is also a sense of purposeful movement. The experience of listening is highly rewarding, for the continual sonic transformations, and the ongoing flow of ideas, as well as for the moods he creates. The Knowledge Of Things To Come is the work of a thoughtful and very creative musician, and one who shows signs of development and growth with every new release.
Oliver is such a great writer. He has previously done reviews for both Mandala and the Rejectamenta EP. In fact he is the only person to have reviewed all my solo releases. He has a brand new website so go check it out and subscribe to the feed.
I also had a little feature on the front page of the Warwick website. For those of you that don’t already know, I am a long-standing endorser for Warwick basses and amps. The whole of the record (and the previous albums) were recorded using my fantastic Warwick Thumb bass and they are a big part of my sound. I was really pleased to be featured on the site again and it’s great to have their support, especially for the solo projects.
One track from the album will be the featured free download of the day on the All About Jazz website on July 16th so keep your eyes peeled for that one. I won’t spoil the surprise and tell you which one.
I’ll keep you posted on any new reviews or features on the album as they come in. Probably via Twitter. I’ll assume that if you’re reading this we probably chat on twitter at some point!
Had a rather busy week last week as I scooted up and down the country with Clare Teal. We played Glastonbury last Saturday in the Bourbon Street tent. Didn’t get much chance to see any other acts (saw two songs from Rumer on the main stage; it was nearest) and only slightly wrecked my bass in the mud. Please remind me to take my electric bass next time I play Glastonbury; it really isn’t the place to be carting around antique instruments.
I went straight from there to play a show in Tychy (I’ve seen it spelt about a million ways) in Poland with Maggie Reilly. We had a lot of fun out there in the short period whilst we weren’t on planes and waiting in airports. For the first time since I’ve been playing with her, somebody in the audience filmed us playing a song that isn’t Moonlight Shadow. Here is a wobbly video of us playing To France. The sound is pretty nasty so don’t get over-excited!
I shall leave you for now. Don’t forget to grab a copy of the new album from the Music page via Bandcamp. It’s the only place where you can get the full hi-res audio. The iTunes versions will be all squashed down to fit in with all their other squashed down music. You know it makes sense… And don’t forget to spread the word of the solo bassist and his new album 😉
