Say 'Cheese'.

July 27th, 2016

My second year performing at The Nantwich Show, on the Redshift Radio stage, thanks guys.
As usual, such a long commute on the train ;)

Attachment Theories T-Shirts!

Available HERE.

You admired the photo, bought the album (didn't you?!), now buy the T-shirts, available on my brand new music glue page HERE

Brave New Worlds

23rd July 2016

I had the potentially daunting prospect of standing in for the regular front-man in an established band. Psychedelic rockers Brave New World being the band, Chris the regular lead-singer/guitar-slinger being on his honeymoon. So I was brave enough to join The Braves (or rather it seemed so far away when I agreed to it but time soon sped by far too quickly). 
In the end, I had needn't been so nervous, the band are a lovely bunch and, in spite of a few technical issues in the first part of the set, we rocked our proverbial socks off. I know that I certainly was far from my technical best, being severely under-rehearsed for this,  but we certainly made a beautiful noise, and lots of it. It was also really well run by a friendly lot, and the bands were well looked after (which is sadly not always the case at such events).
Great fun!

Addendum, 26/07/2016; A net  £1698.72 raised for Guide Dogs for the blind, top work everyone!

Happy Campers near the front of the stage.

Backstage at Castlewood Rocks...

BNW guitarist Derek tunes up
in the back-stage area.

Different Skies.

June 17th, 2016

I always enjoy sharing a stage with Debbie & Kurt.

So great to have a packed out live music show in a pub featuring all original music. Pubs seem to be the notorious denizens of endless repeats of ‘Stuck in the Middle with You’, ‘Superstitious’ and various other rock hits played over and over again by endless cover bands churning out ‘what the public wants’. Maybe that’s not entirely true though as, as I find so often these days, there does seem to be a strong taste for quality new music, it’s got to be an exciting change to the usual stuff, surely?

So, a packed out crowd then and a support set from me, this being the album launch of a good friend of mine. You really couldn’t meet a more honest, trustworthy, principled guy than Martin. He really has a generosity of spirit which the world could do with a lot more of. Martin Rivers has his great new album out, ‘Different Skies’ and had assembled a special band just for the occasion (though who knows, will we see them again)? The band consisting of members from a range of local groups from various genres including SkeletalDamage, We Are Nomad and Green Bullet. It’s great to see Martin at a new zenith, having had a journey in music which has taken him from punk to prog, folk, singer songwriter shows and duets. A new epiphany seems to have been reached with this wonderfully dark, yet compelling and uplifting album. Do treat yourself and check out THIS LINK.

I am a little late with this blog post for various reasons, and I must now add to this that shortly after this great show, Martin had the sad task of letting his friends know that his partner in crime, musically for a number of years Dan Kelly, had sadly died. Dan was the other half of Rivers and Kelly, a very special duet, who together, had a sound reminiscent of the cozy feeling of putting on a favourite old vinyl classic from a bygone era, fabulously absorbing. Dan was a real gentleman, a gentle man in fact. He was a staunch socialist who lived by his strong principles, a lovely person who everyone who knew him will miss.

Rivers & Kelly. Dan Kelly R.I.P.

Alsager 2016.

July 9th, 2016

The Alsager Music Festival seems to get better year by year, this year I thought would be a major blip in that trend due to some torrential rain earlier on and on-and-off-rain through the day. But, no. The crowds flocked, set up their own seating, tents and awnings to make a full and indeed great weekend of it.

I sadly missed Kit and the Icefish, (do click on the artist names in this post to find out more about them) but heard lots about how good their set was. I enjoyed Katy Galloway's uplifting set before it was my turn, and afterwards Dayve Dean who did a sterling job headlining the the acoustic stage in the mini-amphitheater of the Sunken Garden in the park where it all took place. Thanks to the professionalism of the sound guy Marc from MG Audio Solutions for a great sound as well as all the lovely people who came to stand, or sit on the hay-bales or their own impromptu seating to watch.

Thanks Jane from Kit & the Icefish for this pic.

It was great to bump into lots of familiar faces including Simon from the band. We had some time to enjoy a couple of bands with Dayve and an old friend, Caroline.

Majenta is the colour.

June 8th 2016

A year on from the Lyceum and I was gigging again at that bonanza of international dance and music that was Lailat Al Raqs 2016, this time at Nantwich Civic Hall.

Delighted to be a part of it, many thanks to Majenta for organising the whole thing, and sound-man James.

Pre-show photography with one of the dance troops.

Not an award-winning documentary.