Posts
Folks, we have new video footage on our You Tube page at www.youtube.com/user/allthingsconsideredu, and also for next few days you can hear our track played by Tom Robinson on BBC 6 Music.
This link www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wnyfd#segments will take you to the page and you'll need the 'Listen Now' button.
Monday 20 December 2010
End of Another Year!
Well - we've come to the end of another year and it seems to be finishing the way it started, with stupid amounts of snow on the ground and things being cancelled left, right and centre. Nice for a day or two but bloody annoying after that!
Luckily we've finished gigging for the year, with probably more travelling this year than any other in our time as a band. Bath, Bristol, Norwich, Portsmouth - various parts of Essex, Lincolnshire etc. The cars have certainly racked up the miles.
The studio sessions have started really well for the new album, which will hopefully be all done and dusted by the spring. You never realise quite how much there is to do until you start, but we're pretty solidly plugging away at the moment, with the hope we should have all the major bits down by February. There should be a few bits and pieces we can show you all around that time, so we'll keep you posted.
We do however have a couple of the newer tracks you'll find on the record up on our You Tube page. Some great footage was shot when we played a gig alongside our good friends Spriggan Mist a couple of months back, which we have now uploaded on to our page.
You can check out footage of us playing Selfpity and also one of our much more recent tracks - the first airing of Past Times at www.youtube.com/user/allthingsconsideredu
We've also recently had some more national radio play, which is always nice. Tom Robinson (yes, he of 2-4-6-8 Motorway fame) played Clear Your Conscience on his BBC 6 Music show. If you'd like to hear that, you can for the next few days by visiting www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wnyfd#segments and clicking the 'Listen Now' button.
Anyway - we'll close by thanking each and every one of you who have supported us this year, whether it be punter or promoter. As with all bands trying to make an impact we need all of you on board and we're extremely grateful you have chosen to take an interest in our music.
We hope the new album when it is ready won't disappoint!
Have a great Xmas, and we'll see you all in Lewisham for one of our favourite gigs on the circuit, on January 13th.
Cheers
ATC x
Luckily we've finished gigging for the year, with probably more travelling this year than any other in our time as a band. Bath, Bristol, Norwich, Portsmouth - various parts of Essex, Lincolnshire etc. The cars have certainly racked up the miles.
The studio sessions have started really well for the new album, which will hopefully be all done and dusted by the spring. You never realise quite how much there is to do until you start, but we're pretty solidly plugging away at the moment, with the hope we should have all the major bits down by February. There should be a few bits and pieces we can show you all around that time, so we'll keep you posted.
We do however have a couple of the newer tracks you'll find on the record up on our You Tube page. Some great footage was shot when we played a gig alongside our good friends Spriggan Mist a couple of months back, which we have now uploaded on to our page.
You can check out footage of us playing Selfpity and also one of our much more recent tracks - the first airing of Past Times at www.youtube.com/user/allthingsconsideredu
We've also recently had some more national radio play, which is always nice. Tom Robinson (yes, he of 2-4-6-8 Motorway fame) played Clear Your Conscience on his BBC 6 Music show. If you'd like to hear that, you can for the next few days by visiting www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wnyfd#segments and clicking the 'Listen Now' button.
Anyway - we'll close by thanking each and every one of you who have supported us this year, whether it be punter or promoter. As with all bands trying to make an impact we need all of you on board and we're extremely grateful you have chosen to take an interest in our music.
We hope the new album when it is ready won't disappoint!
Have a great Xmas, and we'll see you all in Lewisham for one of our favourite gigs on the circuit, on January 13th.
Cheers
ATC x
Tuesday 16 November 2010
Recording Update and Jagz gig with Martha Tilston
Hello Everyone!
Just thought we'd give you a quick update on weekend number 1 in the studio.
Basically, it went great - and album number 2 is already taking shape very nicely. We managed to get 6 guide tracks recorded, with the proper percussion and bass takes recorded live and on the whole correct! We then had time to get some of Adrian's guitar parts down as well - which by the end were sounding really good.
We're attempting to get a much fuller, bolder sound to this record and so far, with a few nicely placed mics we are achieving it. A very long way to go yet, but we're all already itching to get back in and continue.
Hopefully we'll have the odd snippet of the sessions to show you all at some point soon!
We have three gigs coming up next week - and it pretty much (apart from a short set in Guildford just confirmed for 7th December) will mark the end of our gigging for the year. We play The Hoy Folk Club, Leigh-on-Sea on Tuesday next week, and also doing a set in Newbury on Sunday with our good friends Scattered Few and the brilliant Amy's Ghost.
However - the big one for us next week is at one of our favourite venues, Jagz in Ascot where on Wednesday next week (24th) we support the quite fantastic Martha Tilston.
Martha is a truly one of a kind artist, with a wonderful voice, thoughtful lyrics and a really warm demeanour on stage. She is an artist that influences a good few of us in the band so this is going to be a great night.
It would be absolutely fantastic if we can get a few familiar faces to this night. Tickets are £10 in advance or £12 on the night, and that will be money so worthwhile spending. You can get advance tickets from this link - www.wegottickets.com/event/93373 or if you e-mail info@allthingsconsidered.org.uk with the full names of people requiring tickets, we'll get your names on the door for you to pay the lower price when you turn up on the night.
We're really looking forward to it - and it will be great to see some of you there. It will be a brilliant night!
Cheers
ATC x
Just thought we'd give you a quick update on weekend number 1 in the studio.
Basically, it went great - and album number 2 is already taking shape very nicely. We managed to get 6 guide tracks recorded, with the proper percussion and bass takes recorded live and on the whole correct! We then had time to get some of Adrian's guitar parts down as well - which by the end were sounding really good.
We're attempting to get a much fuller, bolder sound to this record and so far, with a few nicely placed mics we are achieving it. A very long way to go yet, but we're all already itching to get back in and continue.
Hopefully we'll have the odd snippet of the sessions to show you all at some point soon!
We have three gigs coming up next week - and it pretty much (apart from a short set in Guildford just confirmed for 7th December) will mark the end of our gigging for the year. We play The Hoy Folk Club, Leigh-on-Sea on Tuesday next week, and also doing a set in Newbury on Sunday with our good friends Scattered Few and the brilliant Amy's Ghost.
However - the big one for us next week is at one of our favourite venues, Jagz in Ascot where on Wednesday next week (24th) we support the quite fantastic Martha Tilston.
Martha is a truly one of a kind artist, with a wonderful voice, thoughtful lyrics and a really warm demeanour on stage. She is an artist that influences a good few of us in the band so this is going to be a great night.
It would be absolutely fantastic if we can get a few familiar faces to this night. Tickets are £10 in advance or £12 on the night, and that will be money so worthwhile spending. You can get advance tickets from this link - www.wegottickets.com/event/93373 or if you e-mail info@allthingsconsidered.org.uk with the full names of people requiring tickets, we'll get your names on the door for you to pay the lower price when you turn up on the night.
We're really looking forward to it - and it will be great to see some of you there. It will be a brilliant night!
Cheers
ATC x
Thursday 11 November 2010
Lightwater gig
Just a quick one folks to say we'll be doing a set at The Crossley Club in Lightwater tomorrow (Friday 12th), on at about 9pm. The night is part of the Spriggan Mist Presents series, and will include sets from our good friends Savour the Flavour, and obviously Spriggan Mist, along with a couple of other acts.
Be great to see a few heads down for that one - our last before we start recording the 'tricky' second album. Entry is £2, and it all kicks off around 7.30pm.
Also, just a reminder that we're doing a short set supporting Martha Tilston at Jagz in Ascot on Wednesday 24th Nov. Check out the gigs page for ticket links.
One last plug - if you haven't already, please follow us on facebook - www.facebook.com/pages/All-Things-Considered/14405050679. With the new album due shortly, we're really wanting to build this page. Cheers!
Be great to see a few heads down for that one - our last before we start recording the 'tricky' second album. Entry is £2, and it all kicks off around 7.30pm.
Also, just a reminder that we're doing a short set supporting Martha Tilston at Jagz in Ascot on Wednesday 24th Nov. Check out the gigs page for ticket links.
One last plug - if you haven't already, please follow us on facebook - www.facebook.com/pages/All-Things-Considered/14405050679. With the new album due shortly, we're really wanting to build this page. Cheers!
Wednesday 27 October 2010
News Update
We've just confirmed a short slot supporting Martha Tilston at Jagz in Ascot on Wednesday 24th November. Tickets for this are available from the Artree website - www.artree.org.uk.
Also just confirmed - we'll be back in Lincolnshire next summer, this time for Solstice weekend 17th - 19th June at Ecofest. More details about that to follow - and both gigs will be up on the gig pages shortly.
Also just confirmed - we'll be back in Lincolnshire next summer, this time for Solstice weekend 17th - 19th June at Ecofest. More details about that to follow - and both gigs will be up on the gig pages shortly.
Sunday 24 October 2010
Starting on the next album...
Well – 3 weeks to go until the new album sessions start. We have a fair idea about what we’re doing, what direction we’re heading in with this new recording and how we want the finished product to sound. Whether that’ll change once we get in there is anyone’s guess, but we’re all starting to get excited – although we’d be lying if we said we weren’t a little apprehensive about what the next couple of months will bring.
This album will in the main consist of material that we have written in the last few months. Whereas with the first one, we’d been gigging most of the songs that ended up on the album for a long time before, so knew them inside out – this time most of it will be pretty new to us. Although we have slowly bought a few new songs in to the set this last 18 months or so, in the main the tracks on this new record will basically be written and then recorded – with very little gigging exposure. It’s an exciting way to do things, and we kind of hope that as the songs will be so fresh to us, that enjoyment of playing new material will shine through (although that will also be down to Al Heslop’s excellent production skills!).
Another thing that is different to the first one, is that we have given ourselves a much stricter time limit for recording. We hope that another way of getting a real spontaneous, exciting feel to the record will be to get it recorded over a period of a couple of months, as opposed the 8 or so months it took us to do the last one. That idea will probably come back to bite us on the arse, but you have to try these things don’t you!
The new material is on the whole a lot more upbeat than the stuff on the previous record. The previous record was a document of what we had done in the first 18 months or so of being together. Some of the songs came from sessions that Adrian and Emma had early on, some of them from when previous bass player Jim was in the band, and only really a couple that we put together from start to finish as a full band. This new stuff we can safely say is pretty much all material that we have written together as a band, so we hope it will be a much collective sounding effort.
So, November 13th and 14th is when it all kicks off, and we’ll expect to record throughout the rest of November, all December and then in to January.......with hopefully something resembling a finished album at the beginning to middle of Feb, ready for duplication and getting out to the press etc for a spring time release. A hard old ask, but we’ll give it a go.
We will still have the odd gig while we record, as otherwise Emma gets irritated. We support the fantastic Leatherat (www.myspace.com/leatherat) at The Farnham Maltings next Friday (29th) and then have slots in Lightwater, Leigh-on-Sea and Newbury before the end of the year. I imagine we’ll add one to sign off the year with in December – so keep an eye on the gig page.
Cheers for now
ATC
This album will in the main consist of material that we have written in the last few months. Whereas with the first one, we’d been gigging most of the songs that ended up on the album for a long time before, so knew them inside out – this time most of it will be pretty new to us. Although we have slowly bought a few new songs in to the set this last 18 months or so, in the main the tracks on this new record will basically be written and then recorded – with very little gigging exposure. It’s an exciting way to do things, and we kind of hope that as the songs will be so fresh to us, that enjoyment of playing new material will shine through (although that will also be down to Al Heslop’s excellent production skills!).
Another thing that is different to the first one, is that we have given ourselves a much stricter time limit for recording. We hope that another way of getting a real spontaneous, exciting feel to the record will be to get it recorded over a period of a couple of months, as opposed the 8 or so months it took us to do the last one. That idea will probably come back to bite us on the arse, but you have to try these things don’t you!
The new material is on the whole a lot more upbeat than the stuff on the previous record. The previous record was a document of what we had done in the first 18 months or so of being together. Some of the songs came from sessions that Adrian and Emma had early on, some of them from when previous bass player Jim was in the band, and only really a couple that we put together from start to finish as a full band. This new stuff we can safely say is pretty much all material that we have written together as a band, so we hope it will be a much collective sounding effort.
So, November 13th and 14th is when it all kicks off, and we’ll expect to record throughout the rest of November, all December and then in to January.......with hopefully something resembling a finished album at the beginning to middle of Feb, ready for duplication and getting out to the press etc for a spring time release. A hard old ask, but we’ll give it a go.
We will still have the odd gig while we record, as otherwise Emma gets irritated. We support the fantastic Leatherat (www.myspace.com/leatherat) at The Farnham Maltings next Friday (29th) and then have slots in Lightwater, Leigh-on-Sea and Newbury before the end of the year. I imagine we’ll add one to sign off the year with in December – so keep an eye on the gig page.
Cheers for now
ATC
Wednesday 22 September 2010
BBC Session, summer update
As promised, a (slightly late!) opportunity to listen to the full BBC session that we recorded a few weeks ago:
(you might have to head over to our website to listen if you're reading this in an email)
We won't bore you with all the same news that we've posted elsewhere - head over to MySpace or ReverbNation to find out exactly what we've been up to. Needless to say it's been a very exciting summer, from the aforementioned BBC Session to playing the closing set on the 2nd stage at Weyfest. And we're all raring to get into the studio to start work on the (difficult?) 2nd album, so the next few months promise to be very exciting too! There are still a few gigs coming up though, so make sure you check those out too, it'd be great to see some of you along.
Best,
ATC
(you might have to head over to our website to listen if you're reading this in an email)
We won't bore you with all the same news that we've posted elsewhere - head over to MySpace or ReverbNation to find out exactly what we've been up to. Needless to say it's been a very exciting summer, from the aforementioned BBC Session to playing the closing set on the 2nd stage at Weyfest. And we're all raring to get into the studio to start work on the (difficult?) 2nd album, so the next few months promise to be very exciting too! There are still a few gigs coming up though, so make sure you check those out too, it'd be great to see some of you along.
Best,
ATC
Thursday 19 August 2010
BBC update
Just a quick update on the BBC Berkshire session we recorded on Tuesday - this will be airing this Sunday the 22nd August, at 7pm as part of "The Session". Please tune in, either the old-fashioned way, or using DAB, or you can listen live online over at BBC iPlayer. There's a new track that we recorded live, plus a bit of chat and an album track, so definitely worth a listen we think!
Tuesday 17 August 2010
BBC Radio session and gig
A few exciting things coming up this week - this afternoon we're off to BBC Berkshire's studios to record a radio session, including a live performance and a bit of an interview, and then tomorrow (Wednesday 18th) we're off to The Oakford Social Club in Reading to play "BBC Introducing...", a night showcasing up-and-coming bands from the local area. We're headlining, with support from our good friends Scattered Few. The night is free entry, and kicks off at about 8:30pm, so please do come along if you're in the area!
Monday 9 August 2010
Summer Update
Just an update folks regarding a few shows we have coming up over the next fortnight.
Tomorrow night we're at our old haunt of The Cellar Bar, at South Hill Park Arts Centre in Bracknell. Doing a 30+ minute slot along with great singer/songwriter Natalie Long. We'll be on around 9pm and tickets are a fiver on the door.
Sunday we play at The Harlequin Fayre near Norwich. Tickets are almost sold out for this Green Gathering, but you may be lucky if you're quick. Expect loads of hippies and quality ale. Nice!
Next Wednesday we're at The Oakford Social Club in Reading for the BBC Introducing night. Free entry as far as we know, and we're on the bill along with our good friends Scattered Few.
Then, on Saturday 21st August we play at The Small World Festival in Lincolnshire. Again, tickets are pretty scarse for this one now - but if you are interested, check the website gig section where the link for this, as well as the Norwich festival can be found.
Tomorrow night we're at our old haunt of The Cellar Bar, at South Hill Park Arts Centre in Bracknell. Doing a 30+ minute slot along with great singer/songwriter Natalie Long. We'll be on around 9pm and tickets are a fiver on the door.
Sunday we play at The Harlequin Fayre near Norwich. Tickets are almost sold out for this Green Gathering, but you may be lucky if you're quick. Expect loads of hippies and quality ale. Nice!
Next Wednesday we're at The Oakford Social Club in Reading for the BBC Introducing night. Free entry as far as we know, and we're on the bill along with our good friends Scattered Few.
Then, on Saturday 21st August we play at The Small World Festival in Lincolnshire. Again, tickets are pretty scarse for this one now - but if you are interested, check the website gig section where the link for this, as well as the Norwich festival can be found.
Friday 2 July 2010
Upcoming gigs - BBC Introducing, Eastney Cellars, many more...
Hello all!
Been a bit quiet recently with Emma jetting off to get married (congratulations!), but we're now gearing up for the festival season (full dates on www.allthingsconsidered.org.uk), with a few extra-special gigs lined up as well.
On 21st July, we're off to see our regular line-up companions Chris Ricketts and Mark Willshire for a night they run at the very very good Eastney Cellars. This promises to be a great night of acoustic and folk music, and tickets are available now from any band member, or our website.
And then 18th August we've very proud to have been selected to play at the BBC's "Introducing..." night at Oakford Social Club, Reading. Playing with our label's latest signing and very old friends of ours Scattered Few, it promises to be a great night.
And of course there are plenty of other opportunities to see us live - our full schedule is available, as always, at www.allthingsconsidered.org.uk, so please take a look - it'd be great to see you soon!
Been a bit quiet recently with Emma jetting off to get married (congratulations!), but we're now gearing up for the festival season (full dates on www.allthingsconsidered.org.uk), with a few extra-special gigs lined up as well.
On 21st July, we're off to see our regular line-up companions Chris Ricketts and Mark Willshire for a night they run at the very very good Eastney Cellars. This promises to be a great night of acoustic and folk music, and tickets are available now from any band member, or our website.
And then 18th August we've very proud to have been selected to play at the BBC's "Introducing..." night at Oakford Social Club, Reading. Playing with our label's latest signing and very old friends of ours Scattered Few, it promises to be a great night.
And of course there are plenty of other opportunities to see us live - our full schedule is available, as always, at www.allthingsconsidered.org.uk, so please take a look - it'd be great to see you soon!
Thursday 13 May 2010
An ATC Blog Post - As Rare As A Goal From Emile Heskey......
Yep – I know, it’s been at least a month since our last blog post. Hardly prolific we’re well aware so again I’m sitting here saying to myself (and the others) that we’ll rectify that and update this far more frequently, but I doubt any of you would believe us…..
Rest assured – if we had anything worthwhile to say we would say it, promise!
You’ll be pleased to know I can think of a few worthwhile things to talk about this time, which is good as this post would be pretty damn pointless if I couldn’t.
The big project some of us have been working on over the last few weeks is putting together the music for the inaugural Headspace Youth, Disability and Communities Festival which is due to take place at Long Hill Park in Bracknell on Saturday June 19th. (http://www.headspacefestival.co.uk/index.html - not quite a completed website but it’ll give you the jist!)
We’ve managed to put together a really solid line-up of music on two stages, with a broad cross-section of different genres, from young up and coming acts to the more seasoned pros (we’ll let you make your own minds up where you think we fit in to that).
Highlights will include a rare local performance from our good friend Rory Ellis from Australia, one of the brightest acoustic prospects around today – Lou Brown and also a set from the brilliant prog-rock band Heights, who have as their guitarist our producer Al Heslop.
It’s gonna be quality – although bloody scary as this is the first one, so anything could happen! Stick the date in your diary – at £5 entry on the gate (with all proceeds going to Headspace), it’ll be well worth your time. And yes……there is a beer tent.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
For those that haven’t yet – please look us up and become a fan on our Facebook page. A lot of us have been working hard to get this medium going properly so would be great if you could link to us – even if you get this blog having signed our mailing list at some random gig and you’ve forgotten who we are – sign up anyway!
You’ll find us (so I’m told) at this link:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/All-Things-Considered/14405050679
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Finally, we have a gig at Jagz in Ascot tomorrow. We’re doing a short opening set for the band Grey Matter, on at about 8pm or thereabouts.
The gig is significant because it marks the end of our winter/spring gigging run, as we’ll be off the circuit for about 5 weeks due to Emma flying out to Cyprus to get married!
Now some of us in this band have known Emma for a long time now – she was basically still a kid when me (Phil) and Adrian started writing with her back in the summer of 2003, so we’ve seen the odd geezer come and go, most of whom were the stranger side of weird.
However – a couple of years ago she introduced us to Darren, the flame haired cockney who actually seemed reasonably normal…… Could this be? Well yes – it appears it is, as in less than two weeks time they fly out to get wed, and then spend the following 3 weeks in the sun, while the rest of us poor bastards who couldn’t afford to go hope for the best we might get a day in the next month where the temperature reaches double figures……
So – as this will be the last blog post (going on our current updating efforts) before she jets off – I’d just like it to go on record to say we all wish them the very, very best. Darren is an absolute diamond geezer and the two of them are perfect together. Whether or not things go quite as swimmingly if and when she pops a sprog and we’re still gigging 6 times a month is anyone’s guess……….
But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Rest assured – if we had anything worthwhile to say we would say it, promise!
You’ll be pleased to know I can think of a few worthwhile things to talk about this time, which is good as this post would be pretty damn pointless if I couldn’t.
The big project some of us have been working on over the last few weeks is putting together the music for the inaugural Headspace Youth, Disability and Communities Festival which is due to take place at Long Hill Park in Bracknell on Saturday June 19th. (http://www.headspacefestival.co.uk/index.html - not quite a completed website but it’ll give you the jist!)
We’ve managed to put together a really solid line-up of music on two stages, with a broad cross-section of different genres, from young up and coming acts to the more seasoned pros (we’ll let you make your own minds up where you think we fit in to that).
Highlights will include a rare local performance from our good friend Rory Ellis from Australia, one of the brightest acoustic prospects around today – Lou Brown and also a set from the brilliant prog-rock band Heights, who have as their guitarist our producer Al Heslop.
It’s gonna be quality – although bloody scary as this is the first one, so anything could happen! Stick the date in your diary – at £5 entry on the gate (with all proceeds going to Headspace), it’ll be well worth your time. And yes……there is a beer tent.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
For those that haven’t yet – please look us up and become a fan on our Facebook page. A lot of us have been working hard to get this medium going properly so would be great if you could link to us – even if you get this blog having signed our mailing list at some random gig and you’ve forgotten who we are – sign up anyway!
You’ll find us (so I’m told) at this link:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/All-Things-Considered/14405050679
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Finally, we have a gig at Jagz in Ascot tomorrow. We’re doing a short opening set for the band Grey Matter, on at about 8pm or thereabouts.
The gig is significant because it marks the end of our winter/spring gigging run, as we’ll be off the circuit for about 5 weeks due to Emma flying out to Cyprus to get married!
Now some of us in this band have known Emma for a long time now – she was basically still a kid when me (Phil) and Adrian started writing with her back in the summer of 2003, so we’ve seen the odd geezer come and go, most of whom were the stranger side of weird.
However – a couple of years ago she introduced us to Darren, the flame haired cockney who actually seemed reasonably normal…… Could this be? Well yes – it appears it is, as in less than two weeks time they fly out to get wed, and then spend the following 3 weeks in the sun, while the rest of us poor bastards who couldn’t afford to go hope for the best we might get a day in the next month where the temperature reaches double figures……
So – as this will be the last blog post (going on our current updating efforts) before she jets off – I’d just like it to go on record to say we all wish them the very, very best. Darren is an absolute diamond geezer and the two of them are perfect together. Whether or not things go quite as swimmingly if and when she pops a sprog and we’re still gigging 6 times a month is anyone’s guess……….
But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Friday 16 April 2010
Video sessions, festival bookings...
A few bits of news recently - first of all, our "Songs From The Shed" session is now available at www.songsfromtheshed.com, take a look - we had lots of fun making the videos!
Also, Headspace Festival, which is being run by the Headspace charity in conjunction with Artree Music (our label), is confirmed for the 19th June in Longhill Park, Bracknell. It promises to be a great day, and we'll definitely be playing at some point! We're also confirmed to be playing at the International Youth Arts Festival in Kingston on the 10th July, keep tuned for more details of that...
Also, Headspace Festival, which is being run by the Headspace charity in conjunction with Artree Music (our label), is confirmed for the 19th June in Longhill Park, Bracknell. It promises to be a great day, and we'll definitely be playing at some point! We're also confirmed to be playing at the International Youth Arts Festival in Kingston on the 10th July, keep tuned for more details of that...
Us+A Shed+A Camera = ?
Sometimes it's the simplest things in life that are the best. I must admit that we were rather unsure of what to expect when, a few weeks ago, we turned up to the lovely Jon Earl's house near Bristol to record a video session in his shed. It was to be all completely acoustic, and recorded as-live with no editing, a nervewracking experience for any musician! And a previous line-up of acts including Lou Brown, Jackie Oates, Black Peak and 3 Daft Monkeys, among many others, didn't do much to ease the pressure on us...
But we had a great time - Jon was very friendly and kept us well refreshed with cups of tea (while he wasn't exchanging stories of rural flooding with Ben anyway), and despite a few false-starts here and there we finished the afternoon fairly confident that we had produced a fairly reasonable performance!
And then the wait started - unfortunately Jon had a back-log of sessions, so we had to wait a few weeks until the videos were available, but now we're incredibly happy to announce that they are live on www.songsfromtheshed.com!
Please do go and take a listen (and take a look at some of the past artists too, there are some gems in there), we reckon they've come out pretty well, so let us know what you think!
But we had a great time - Jon was very friendly and kept us well refreshed with cups of tea (while he wasn't exchanging stories of rural flooding with Ben anyway), and despite a few false-starts here and there we finished the afternoon fairly confident that we had produced a fairly reasonable performance!
And then the wait started - unfortunately Jon had a back-log of sessions, so we had to wait a few weeks until the videos were available, but now we're incredibly happy to announce that they are live on www.songsfromtheshed.com!
Please do go and take a listen (and take a look at some of the past artists too, there are some gems in there), we reckon they've come out pretty well, so let us know what you think!
Tuesday 16 March 2010
The summer ahead
Well, what wonderful weather we've been having recently. Especially so as it reminds us of the fun-packed summer that we've got lined up. I don't know if it's the fact that we've been gigging a lot recently, or Emma's fantastic and entirely festival-worthy dreams of being pushed around by Adrian in a wheelbarrow full of cider (inspired somehow by our recent trip to see Idlewild, who were great, as were the support, Sparrow and the Workshop), but I've definitely been getting into the mood for a few festival outings recently.
And what luck - we've already got a pretty good list confirmed! So far:
And with various others still in the pipelines, including a possible Artree festival at some point, and an absolutely incredible one-day event on the 17th or 18th July (we can't tell you any more at the moment, but keep your diaries free, you'll be the first to find out, and it will be worth the wait!) it's certainly all shaping up nicely.
Anyway - we hope to see you at some of these events, and stay tuned for updates on some more dates very soon. Just make sure to bring a wheelbarrow!
And what luck - we've already got a pretty good list confirmed! So far:
- The Harlequin Fayre at a secret location near Norwich on 15th August
- The Small World Festival in Louth, Lincolnshire the weekend after (20-22nd August)
- Carshalton Environmental Fair on the 30th August
And with various others still in the pipelines, including a possible Artree festival at some point, and an absolutely incredible one-day event on the 17th or 18th July (we can't tell you any more at the moment, but keep your diaries free, you'll be the first to find out, and it will be worth the wait!) it's certainly all shaping up nicely.
Anyway - we hope to see you at some of these events, and stay tuned for updates on some more dates very soon. Just make sure to bring a wheelbarrow!
Friday 26 February 2010
Due Another Blog Post
Nice gig in Portsmouth last week – back at Roger Courtney’s Open Mike Night. Always a great crowd in there, and although a few technical issues at the start of the set, it seemed to go down fairly well again – apart from us getting the name of the venue wrong, much to promoter Nick’s amusement…..
We followed a great set by local Jeff Radford, who did a blinding version of Mr Jones by Counting Crows – which is alright by me.
Of course there was the famous rock and roll raffle which was one of our highlights of last year (as those avid readers of our rapidly diminishing blog posts will remember). We had a winner this time around – Ben managing to snap up a tin of tuna from the prize stand……which he said he was planning on eating last Tuesday, at about 1.45pm. We haven’t yet found out whether that was the case, or indeed the quality of the product, as we haven’t actually heard from him since……..hmmmmmmm.
Bournemouth this Sunday, we’re loving the South Coast at the minute. This will be our first set at Bournemouth’s famous folk club, although I believe this one is more of a showcase night. So if you’re in the area, come along and see us – I believe we’re playing at about 8.45pm.
There’s also been a bit of movement on the festivals side for the summer. Unfortunately we weren’t selected for Glastonbury (yet), but we have confirmed a few summer events, with hopefully more to come in the coming weeks. The thought of hot summer days, playing live music in a random field with a load of new age hippies and drinking warm ale is seriously appealing right now……
Anyway – check the website for those dates and indeed further gigs announced over the next few weeks. It’s gonna be a busy summer.
We followed a great set by local Jeff Radford, who did a blinding version of Mr Jones by Counting Crows – which is alright by me.
Of course there was the famous rock and roll raffle which was one of our highlights of last year (as those avid readers of our rapidly diminishing blog posts will remember). We had a winner this time around – Ben managing to snap up a tin of tuna from the prize stand……which he said he was planning on eating last Tuesday, at about 1.45pm. We haven’t yet found out whether that was the case, or indeed the quality of the product, as we haven’t actually heard from him since……..hmmmmmmm.
Bournemouth this Sunday, we’re loving the South Coast at the minute. This will be our first set at Bournemouth’s famous folk club, although I believe this one is more of a showcase night. So if you’re in the area, come along and see us – I believe we’re playing at about 8.45pm.
There’s also been a bit of movement on the festivals side for the summer. Unfortunately we weren’t selected for Glastonbury (yet), but we have confirmed a few summer events, with hopefully more to come in the coming weeks. The thought of hot summer days, playing live music in a random field with a load of new age hippies and drinking warm ale is seriously appealing right now……
Anyway – check the website for those dates and indeed further gigs announced over the next few weeks. It’s gonna be a busy summer.
Tuesday 23 February 2010
Dates Announced
A few new dates have been confirmed recently.
We´re going to be doing a set at The Harlequin Fayre, a green gathering event at a yet to be disclosed location near Norwich (please see gig section of the website for the ticket link) on Sunday 15th August.
A little earlier in the year, we've just confirmed a rescheduled set at Good Intentions nr Guildford on April 12th, The famous Grub Café in East Grinstead on April 13th and a return to Jagz in Ascot on May 14th – as well as three confirmed dates at various times this year at the outstanding Icarus Club in London.
All good fun – and be good to see some of you along the way.
We´re going to be doing a set at The Harlequin Fayre, a green gathering event at a yet to be disclosed location near Norwich (please see gig section of the website for the ticket link) on Sunday 15th August.
A little earlier in the year, we've just confirmed a rescheduled set at Good Intentions nr Guildford on April 12th, The famous Grub Café in East Grinstead on April 13th and a return to Jagz in Ascot on May 14th – as well as three confirmed dates at various times this year at the outstanding Icarus Club in London.
All good fun – and be good to see some of you along the way.
Thursday 4 February 2010
A Belated Happy New Year...
Well – to say we've been a bit lazy with this blog lately is understating it somewhat. Everybody has seemed to blame the weather for everything this year so far, so I’m sure I can get away with tagging our complete ineptness at an update on that...
In all fairness, the snow has played a pretty irritating part in our stop/start beginning to 2010. With a whole host of bookings for early this year, it wasn't the best of starts to have the first two gigs snowed off. This included what should have been our first trip to play in the West Country with a support slot for the brilliant Tinderbox. Before that gig on the same day, we were due to do a session for the very popular 'Songs from the Shed' video podcast in Bristol which also had to be pulled. Luckily that looks like it's been rearranged, and we have further West Country dates coming up...still bloody annoying though.
We did manage to get 2010 kicked off with a set at Great Bardfield Folk Club in deepest Essex. It was a fair trek to get up there in rush hour traffic and the icy conditions but we're glad we did. The venue – The High Barn, is nothing short of breathtaking. An old converted barn, with all original beams and pillars – lovingly restored by a private investor who also acted as sound man for the night, and did a fine job. If you ever get chance to visit this place for a gig – do it. We'll certainly be back.
So onwards and upwards we thought – we've had the bad luck with the weather so no issues anymore. That was until Emma caught a cold. Now when Emma catches colds – she doesn't do it half heartedly. It's pretty much gospel that if Emma has a cold, at some point its going to spread to her throat, which this one did. We do make a gag of this – but I'm sure she's not overly happy when it happens... Anyway – this meant a further cancellation in Alton. Four gigs booked for January – one completed – a 25% success rate. Report card will read 'must try harder', but we're confident the excuses we had have held up!
I'm pleased to say its all systems go now though – and we're looking forward to a few really exciting gigs in Feb, and as hectic a month in March as I can remember. Tis all good fun!
One thing we haven't mentioned in the blog was our radio show at Brooklands FM just before Xmas. It was a right good laugh and gave us some much needed interview experience. We played a few tracks as well – including our latest one, Claustrophobia, which although not exactly polished was nice to give a run out to.
Gethin has informed me we have some clips from this show which he's kindly going to embed here (Suffocating) and here (Unheard Sounds and Empty Motions). Your guess is as good as mine what these clips actually contain [Gethin - They're two of our newest tracks, exclusively available to you lovely people who read our blog, hope you enjoy!], but I'm sure they are worth a listen!
Anyway – we have gigs in Bracknell, Portsmouth and Bournemouth this month, be great to see some of you there! As usual check the website for all updates.
Cheers
Thursday 21 January 2010
News Update
Sorry to all the people who were looking to come out and see us at the cancelled gigs a couple of weeks ago. There really wasn't much we could do about the snow - we're very glad it's gone!
New dates have been added since the last update - including a slot at the new Artree Music Introducing night in Bagshot, Surrey and also slots in Kingston and a rearranged date in Puttenham.
Keep checking the site for the most up to date listings.
New dates have been added since the last update - including a slot at the new Artree Music Introducing night in Bagshot, Surrey and also slots in Kingston and a rearranged date in Puttenham.
Keep checking the site for the most up to date listings.
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