On Saturday 15th of February I sat in with the Tom Walker Trio for a few songs during their gig at The Gate Inn, Sutton Coldfield.
Here's a couple of videos;
Us jamming my song "Break My Heart Blues"
Me singing "Leave My Kitten Alone" and Tom leading us through "Crossroads."
Thanks to Tom, James and Jake for having me play. Special thanks also to Ian for standing in amongst a quite lively crowd to film us!
Showing posts with label blues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blues. Show all posts
Wednesday, 19 February 2014
Monday, 19 October 2009
Monday, 14 September 2009
EP Launch Deatails
The launch night for my EP, Twenty Two, will be on Friday October 23rd at The Tower of Song Bar in Cotteridge, Birmingham. The Tower of Song is one of my favourite venues, it's home to some of the best nights around including the Crossroads Blues Club and Rea River Roots. It also has a really great atmosphere and a really cool crowd of regulars.
On the launch night I'll play the songs from the EP as well as some brand new tracks and covers of some of my favourite artists and biggest influences. I'll also be joined by Chickenbone Blues, Singer/Songwriter Johnny Hands and comedian Lee Goodall, who are all performing sets in the first half of the evening. I'm planning to end the night with a great big blues jam, depending on who is there to play along...
And I'll be selling the EP, of course!
So get it in your diaries... October 23rd, which is a Friday, from 8.45 to 11.15pm at The Tower of Song Bar. £3 on the door.
107 Pershore Road South
Cotteridge
BIRMINGHAM
B30 3JX
Friday, 24 July 2009
Last Night
Bohemian Juke Box was eclectic. I was first on, and performed the three songs on my new Ep, Twenty Two. I also tried a brand new track, which will be called either "Pessimistic Me" or "Come to Nothing" (it's jollier than the names suggest.) I also played the 1969 medley again which starts with Bowie's Space Oddity which was great because on one of the walls there is covered with a huge picture of the Apollo 11 Astronauts on the Moon. As well as this I did a few more of my own and the old blues tune "Love in Vain."
I was followed by Arc Vel who was an instrumental electronica artist whose performance featured a projection of wild life footage. I thought it was rather cool
Next up was Z+, a finger style acoustic guitar singer/songwriter. Some really lovely, understated guitar passages and tunes. And he did a fantastic recovery when his guitar string broke, and the guitar he borrowed from the next performer didn’t want to stay in tune. Moments like that make you want to cry when your performing, but he made a good bit of funny entertainment out of it.
Mitch and Murray, another solo singer/songwriter again had some nice acoustic finger style tunes, as well as an endearing persona in the “preamble” to the songs. As he noticed there was something of a running theme to the night, as he, Z+ and I were all performing at the venue for the first time, and trying out at least one song we’d written in the last 24 hours.
The Victoria is a fabulous pub, all original Victorian style (including some great urinals upstairs) and French Burlesque posters. I can’t help but think maybe the nights would be a bit cooler if they were free entry then perhaps people in the main bar downstairs might wonder upstairs for a few songs. As it is the audience, though very welcoming and pleasant, consisted of people the acts had brought with them rather than new listeners for everyone. I blogged about this a little while ago and this has been the first gig in a while I’ve done where the punters pay £4 or something similar to get in, and the performers are required to bring a certain amount of their regular supporters. In all honesty, I think I prefer nights like Acoustic Brew where it’s free in. True they might not always have big audiences, but at least an artists’ regular audience don’t have to pay. I have sometimes wondered if a few of us singer songwriters wouldn't be better off organising a gig in the back garden and inviting our regulars along for a pound a head or something, would that work?
I'm also thinking of doing some kind of "launch" for the EP. The idea would be that I'd play the songs from it, perhaps with a full band arrangement like on the CD rather than solo performances. I'd also invite some other performers to play, maybe comedy as well as music, and if possible I'd organise a few Jam's along the way with some of the blues players from the crossroads that I admire so much. What do you reckon?
I was followed by Arc Vel who was an instrumental electronica artist whose performance featured a projection of wild life footage. I thought it was rather cool
Next up was Z+, a finger style acoustic guitar singer/songwriter. Some really lovely, understated guitar passages and tunes. And he did a fantastic recovery when his guitar string broke, and the guitar he borrowed from the next performer didn’t want to stay in tune. Moments like that make you want to cry when your performing, but he made a good bit of funny entertainment out of it.
Mitch and Murray, another solo singer/songwriter again had some nice acoustic finger style tunes, as well as an endearing persona in the “preamble” to the songs. As he noticed there was something of a running theme to the night, as he, Z+ and I were all performing at the venue for the first time, and trying out at least one song we’d written in the last 24 hours.
The Victoria is a fabulous pub, all original Victorian style (including some great urinals upstairs) and French Burlesque posters. I can’t help but think maybe the nights would be a bit cooler if they were free entry then perhaps people in the main bar downstairs might wonder upstairs for a few songs. As it is the audience, though very welcoming and pleasant, consisted of people the acts had brought with them rather than new listeners for everyone. I blogged about this a little while ago and this has been the first gig in a while I’ve done where the punters pay £4 or something similar to get in, and the performers are required to bring a certain amount of their regular supporters. In all honesty, I think I prefer nights like Acoustic Brew where it’s free in. True they might not always have big audiences, but at least an artists’ regular audience don’t have to pay. I have sometimes wondered if a few of us singer songwriters wouldn't be better off organising a gig in the back garden and inviting our regulars along for a pound a head or something, would that work?
I'm also thinking of doing some kind of "launch" for the EP. The idea would be that I'd play the songs from it, perhaps with a full band arrangement like on the CD rather than solo performances. I'd also invite some other performers to play, maybe comedy as well as music, and if possible I'd organise a few Jam's along the way with some of the blues players from the crossroads that I admire so much. What do you reckon?
Friday, 5 June 2009
Living Room and The Crossroads
This week I've played two gigs in Birmingham.
On Monday I played for the first time at The 15 Minute Club, which takes place at the The Living Room in Birmingham. The basic idea is that every does a 15 minute set of original songs. The night is run by a lady called Rae, who gives it a really cool touch by giving each act a nice little intro and having a chat with them at the end of their set. The venue is really good, and I like the idea of everyone just doing four of their best songs.
Also performing were Johnny Hands, a Birmingham based singer songwriter I've performed with before who I really enjoyed, a great bluesy singer called Tara Chinn, a really cool, funky band I didn't catch the name of and Cat Chinn, who unfortunately I mostly missed because I had to leave just as she started up. My set went well, and the audience were very cool. I'll be returning on the 6th of July.
Thursday I again popped along to the Blues Jam at the Crossroads Blues Club. Again I couldn't be there from the start because of teaching guitar lessons before hand, and when I arrived about half an hour into the night it was pretty much full, the busiest I've seen it there in fact. Most of the regulars I really like hearing and playing with were there, including Steve Butt, Ken Stratford, Chickenbone John, Alan Nicholls and Mark Bennett. I played lead on a Rolling Stones song led by Tower of Song owner Tom Martin, then fronted "Matchbox Blues" which seemed to go quite nicely. I was a bit disappointed not to front another song, because I'd got a couple of new ones ready, but with it being such a busy night there had to be a quick turnaround to get everyone heard. After Matchbox I was part of the backing band for a spoken word performer, and then watched while Mark Bennett jammed with a great funk band. This was really cool, and again made the jam night unlike any of the others I've been to there. This is one of the best things about these nights, last time I was there was a kind of Cajun dance feel, this time it had a funk feeling.
Finally I joined Mark Bennett, Alan Nicholls, a bass player, a sax player and the harp guys for two final jamms lead by Mark.
I really enjoy these jam nights, but I'm never sure how well I've played. I find that I play best when I just let go and don't think too much, meaning I'm almost not really listening to what I'm doing, which can be a little scary afterwards when I kind of have no idea what I've just played! To be allowed to play with and alongside these great musicians is always a thrill, and I think it's improving my performance no end.
On Monday I played for the first time at The 15 Minute Club, which takes place at the The Living Room in Birmingham. The basic idea is that every does a 15 minute set of original songs. The night is run by a lady called Rae, who gives it a really cool touch by giving each act a nice little intro and having a chat with them at the end of their set. The venue is really good, and I like the idea of everyone just doing four of their best songs.
Also performing were Johnny Hands, a Birmingham based singer songwriter I've performed with before who I really enjoyed, a great bluesy singer called Tara Chinn, a really cool, funky band I didn't catch the name of and Cat Chinn, who unfortunately I mostly missed because I had to leave just as she started up. My set went well, and the audience were very cool. I'll be returning on the 6th of July.Thursday I again popped along to the Blues Jam at the Crossroads Blues Club. Again I couldn't be there from the start because of teaching guitar lessons before hand, and when I arrived about half an hour into the night it was pretty much full, the busiest I've seen it there in fact. Most of the regulars I really like hearing and playing with were there, including Steve Butt, Ken Stratford, Chickenbone John, Alan Nicholls and Mark Bennett. I played lead on a Rolling Stones song led by Tower of Song owner Tom Martin, then fronted "Matchbox Blues" which seemed to go quite nicely. I was a bit disappointed not to front another song, because I'd got a couple of new ones ready, but with it being such a busy night there had to be a quick turnaround to get everyone heard. After Matchbox I was part of the backing band for a spoken word performer, and then watched while Mark Bennett jammed with a great funk band. This was really cool, and again made the jam night unlike any of the others I've been to there. This is one of the best things about these nights, last time I was there was a kind of Cajun dance feel, this time it had a funk feeling.
Finally I joined Mark Bennett, Alan Nicholls, a bass player, a sax player and the harp guys for two final jamms lead by Mark.
I really enjoy these jam nights, but I'm never sure how well I've played. I find that I play best when I just let go and don't think too much, meaning I'm almost not really listening to what I'm doing, which can be a little scary afterwards when I kind of have no idea what I've just played! To be allowed to play with and alongside these great musicians is always a thrill, and I think it's improving my performance no end.
Sunday, 19 April 2009
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