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What a month that was…

Writer's picture: Ben HemmingBen Hemming

Updated: Feb 1, 2020


Well what a month November turned out to be! Probably the busiest so far in the ups and downs of my life as a singer songwriter. Three gigs in a row and a few hangovers to boot! December won’t be half as busy in less something last minute turns up and I will be concentrating on gig bookings for 2016 and start planing my next tour in the summer. Which looks likely to be Europe followed by the sates in my most ambitious tour to date! But more news on that as it arrives, let me fill you in on all that happened in November first!

It all kicked off with probably one of my most high profile gigs at an exclusive private members club right in the heart of Soho called The Union Club. To give the gig a bit of context it was put on by Tim Arnold, a fantastic singer songwriter, as part of the Save Soho campaign to raise awareness of government redevelopment which would result in the demolition of some of the areas most historic and cultural buildings. In the run up to the gig Tim had several articles in the Metro (London’s free newspaper, just incase you didn’t know) and a couple of adverts for the show, which I wasn’t even aware of until on of my mates told me “‘ere Ben you were in the paper the other day!” So it was probably one of the best published events I had the privilege to be part of.

I had spent the week before rehearsing a backing band for the show and was lucky enough to be playing with a good friend and double bass player Raf Ruocco and excellent drummer Eric Young. On the night in question the venue was packed, having sold out, and I had the honour of sharing the stage with Tim Arnold, Graeme Clark (from Wet Wet Wet) and the Comedian Steve Furst (Little Britain). It was a great night and carried on into the early hours amongst the drinking dens of Soho.

And so with a killer hangover and the beginnings of a cold it was on to the the next gig of the month, the next day with an hour long solo slot at the Inspiral Lounge in Camden. This is a great little vegetarian restaurant right in the heart of Camden, my local stomping ground, that overlooks the canal. The place had a great vibe and with a plenty of herbal tea (not very rock and roll I know) I was able to get though my set without a hitch and a had great reaction for the onlooking audience.

I then took the week off to recover in preparation for the last gig of the month, and probably of the year, at the Stags Head in Hoxton. This was run by The Cult House, a promoter I worked with before at a gig at 93 Feet East, and The London Bug who put on a great line up of acts. The stand out for me being The Great Wen who totally rocked the place! I’m pretty sure my set went down pretty well as well as people kept on buying me drinks all night, which lead to more drunken shenanigans and the inevitable hangover the next day!

Which brings me on to what I have coming up next year. I’m currently in the process of booking more gigs, details will be announced as they happen but at the moment I’m due to play on the 16th of Jan at at 9pm at The Stage Door in Waterloo, you can RSVP for this event by clicking here. I will also be playing at Proud Camden on 23rd of Jan, RSVP here. And on the 7th of Feb at The 12 Bar Club, RSVP here.

And last but by no means least I’ve been busy with the video camera again this time with a live rendition of ‘Broken Man’ from by album of the same name out now on iTunes. The song is performed on a Cigarbox guitar that I picked up from New Orleans last summer and percussion using a Farmer Stomp drum and foot tambourine. Enjoy!


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