October has been a month of gigs, meetings, and rehearsing for me. In other words pretty busy in a funny sort of way. And a month that seems to have lasted for ever, but productive never the less. It all kicked off with a last minute gig at Folking Around. This monthly Folk night has built up a quite a reputation for putting on great live acts in kingston upon Thames, and it's always a pleasure to be invited to play there. Woody's bar who host the night are always very welcoming to the acts and the atmosphere makes for a perfect night of live music. I had a great gig there and can't wait to be invited to play there again.
October was also the month when a couple of pieces of kit finally arrived which I'd been waiting for for quite some time, as they had been imported from America. And they were to take my live act as a one man band to the next level. From Farmer foot drums I picked out a great bit of kit that means I can now play a cymbal with my feet. Sidekick Drums also do a fantastic bit of equipment called a 'Snare Kick Riser Stand'. With this in my armoury I am now able to play a snare drum with my left foot just like it was a kick drum. Combining these two bits of gear with my bass drum means I am now a fully functioning 'One Man Band' and to give you guys a better idea of how I now sound live I decided to film me performing a live version of 'Rambling Man' from my new album 'City Of Streets'. Check out the vid below from my YouTube Channel to see what I mean.
The rest of the month was spent rehearsing my songs with the new set up which has admittedly had some challenges but hopefully I should get to grips with it in time for my gig at Leadbelly's on the 9th of November. Apart from that I have managed to escape the rehearsal studio once in a while but manly to fit in a meeting or two. One was with the promoter of The Ned, one of London's most swankiest bars. The venue is question has an amazing live space in the form of a circular stage in a complex of 9 restaurants and bars, and is one of London best venues for networking. So no doubt would have lots of important contacts looking on in there weekly showcase 'New Music Mondays'. The meeting seemed to go well but realistically it's looking like next year until I can secure a slot at what is likely to be one of my most high profile gigs to date. As usual I have been keeping a vlog on my antics and you can watch it below.
October also saw me finally meeting up and having a chat with a local filmmaker who had seen me perform at one of my gigs and shown an interest in making a music video of one of my songs. We had been in touch while I was out on tour in Europe in the summer but it had taken a while for us to finally make room in our busy schedules, and we agreed to meet at a local pub to discuss the direction we should take.
In the end we chose 'Devils Soul' as the song to make a promo for. And decided upon the theme of the underworld and the famous tale of the old bluesman Robert Johnson, who sold his soul to the devil to make it big, so the story goes. And although this was not a direct theme of the song it was defiantly an inspiration, as was the music of the man him self. I made a vlog on the subject as well as going into my songwriting process and philosophy, enjoy.