And so the summer is nearly upon us! I’m finally putting my big black winter coat to the back of the wardrobe in favour of something a bit more… summery? If summer is such a thing in London? Anyway lots to report as usual. Since we last spoke I’ve played a plethora of gigs, some good, some bad and some just down right ugly! But this is unfortunately the nature of the beast when it comes to being an unsigned artist. You can’t always play to a full house and the way things are with London at the moment with a live scene on the decline and venues closing here there and everywhere it’s no surprise! But having said all that there have been some highlights. I’m getting on rather swimmingly with my new backing band and it’s showing through in our gigs too. The set we played at the Monarch on St. Patrick’s day was truly epic. The place was full and there were moments as we smashed through the songs that I got truly lost in the music. I left the stage at the end of our set feeling like a something special had just happened, and the audience loved it! It was a very well put together night courtesy of ‘Chalk Farm Folk’ and there are plans to play again after I return from touring the US and Canada.
In other news I’ve also had some exciting developments on the recording front. The producer, and old friend, Miles Clarke has approached me about recording a single and B side at his new studio. Grand Cru Studios is build inside the hull of a 100 year old 110 foot Dutch Barge boat that is moored in St Katherine Docks by the Thames. He’s worked with some big names including recently Peter Townsend from ‘The Who’. So the project could bring some great exposure as well as a great opportunity to record some tracks with my band. More news coming soon…
Speaking of recording, I had yet another glowing review of my album ‘Broken Man’ Sorry to keep banging on about it but if people just keep on writing about it who am I to complain? This time is was the lovely people at Americana U.K. who had this to say about the release: “The album is beautiful, but in that harsh, Eastern European, Soviet concrete structure kind of way. A dark solitary collection of music, apt for a world of woe, a story of survival, of just getting by, this is a new blues.” You can read the full review here.
And last but by no means least I’ve filmed another track with my backing band from the living room of my flat. There were thankfully no complains from the neighbours so it can’t have been all that bad! The song is ‘This City’ and it’s from my album ‘Broken Man’ that’s available to download on iTunes now.