Any Bass Players Out There?????

So, the worst kept secret is out – Gethin has shaved all his hair off! Well, that’s not really the big news, but it is certainly news-worthy. Let us know what you think at the upcoming gigs.

The ‘big’ news is this. As many of you probably already know, Ben, our dependable, reliable and downright perfect bass player for the last 2 and a half years is off to the United States, to study – not just to eat loads and watch copious amounts of football, although that will no doubt happen in the first year at least.

He leaves us at the end of July, and we’re very close to confirming his ‘farewell’ show – which will hopefully be at our album launch venue, Jagz in Ascot on Friday 29th July. We will obviously provide all details once this is 100% sorted, but it would be great to fill the place, so note the date!

This however obviously leaves us with a big gap to fill, and that isn’t a jibe I promise! We are now actively looking for a new bass player – the plan being the new recruit coming in to the set-up sometime before Ben goes, with the view to taking over from him when we commence gigging towards the end of this year.

Please, if you are a bass player yourself and fancy life as part of the infamous ATC, or you know of anyone that may be interested – do get in touch – info@allthingsconsidered.org.uk is the e-mail address to contact, or there is always through our Facebook page www.facebook.com/allthingsconsidered. The more people who know we are looking, the more chance we have of finding the right replacement, so it’s all hands on deck – that alright? Thanks!

Few gigs coming up – as summer is just round the corner. We’re playing a nice laid back slot at Jagz Open Mic night tomorrow (17th) which is in the front bat, not the function room. There is the possibility of a slot on 29th May (will confirm when confirmed!) and then numerous dates in June including a return to Lincolnshire and The Crawley Folk Festival. Good times.

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:

• 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!

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.

Festival Woe

Sitting here bored out of my brains in the office on a Friday afternoon, after a pint at lunch which has made me extremely lethargic – so thinking about what to write for the blog post is proving very difficult.

We have a gig tomorrow in Adrian’s pub, The Bull, in Bracknell High Street. Not the most glamorous of locations but it will be a good laugh, and we also have the rather brilliant Matt Hegarty on the bill – who is one of our favourite artists on the acoustic scene.

We’re doing this gig due to having a free weekend because a festival we were due to perform at was cancelled a few weeks ago. Matt Hegarty is doing this gig for exactly the same reason – yet it was a completely different festival he was playing at that was cancelled.

So – right there I’ve stumbled across a theme for today’s post. Are you sitting comfortably?

It isn’t rocket science why so many festivals have gone tits up this year. The term ‘current economic situation’ has become the favoured buzz phrase among business analysts the world over in the last 18 months or so, and with that ‘situation’ comes victims – none more so than in the world of the arts, a sector of business hugely under-resourced at the best of times with many a performer and organiser involved just for the love of it.

The festival season is one that is looked forward to by many acts across all genres and styles – both musically and non musically, as a way of showcasing their craft to a bigger, wider audience – and being involved in something that brings people together, hopefully bathed in summer sun. Aside from the big corporate behemoths of Reading, V, The Isle of Wight – or indeed the master of them all on a Somerset farm in mid June (however this is a whole different talking point – mostly a positive one)….the festivals with real atmosphere are those that are a bit smaller, a bit more local, organised by a group of friends or local promoters with a love of live art and a willingness to share it with the community.

Unfortunately, it is these events that have suffered this year. The type of events that, we as a band performing in more of a semi professional environment look to play. Whether it’s due to the promoter not being able to afford the land due to rising prices, not being able to promote it due to rising costs – or more often than not, getting as far as advertising a fully booked event, only for the punters to keep their money on their pockets this year – because everything is that little bit tighter than last year.

The big corporate events obviously don’t have this problem – as they have the money to throw at the world’s top acts, and the money to advertise this in every single possible way – which then gets the people in. People are happy to pay if they have a guarantee of a good time, which these events can offer. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a major issue with these events – as a punter I have a ticket to one of them this year. It’s just a shame though, that for the smaller events – the events where the term ‘festival’ means so much more, are falling down left, right and centre this year, sometimes just a week or two before the thing is supposed to take place.
I’m sure no-one in the government is going to take a blind bit of notice to these goings on and offer some kind of grant. The Arts Council is over-stretched anyway but at least some events get their backing so not all doom and gloom. I suppose it boils down to the fact that these events are great if they can be justified – but in the ‘current economic situation’, they obviously can’t